Sadie's 2nd Birthday

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I can hardly believe it, but our baby turned 2! We had a wonderful Butterly Birthday Brunch on Saturday with friends and family... Great Grandma Gerry was even here from Arizona to celebrate with us - that was the best present ever! Sadie is doing all sorts of wonderful things like:
counting to 10
singing her abc's and other adorable songs
speaking in 3-4 word sentences
running and jumping
taking showers with us
crawling out of her crib

Enjoy the pictures from her party and the celebration from her actual b.day on Tuesday. Thanks to all that made it and for all of your love!

HERE'S TO YOU, SADIE!

Sadie's First Haircut

Before + After

We did it... we took Sadie to get her first haircut and of course we went to cousin Jen at Capelli Salon. We heart Jennifer - thanks so much!

We were a bit worried that Sadie might not sit still, but she did AWESOME! She sat on my lap and had a very serious look on her face the entire time. She sat completely still and didn't even lick on her lolli until AFTER she was done with the haircut.

Enjoy the pics from Sadie's first hair cut:

...can you say super adorable????

Crazy Times for Our Family

Kurt was laid off last Friday and I have been trying to process what this means for us for the past few days. I have had feelings of sadness, anger, frustration and hope. I am also pretty scared out of my mind. I am not scared or worried that Kurt will not find an amazing opportunity, but just scared of what the future holds for us. We will be okay. The support and kindness of our friends and family has been amazing and we are truly blessed to be surrounded by such LOVE. So, thank you for your words of encouragement, your leads on job opportunities, and for the yummy food :)

Keep the positive job vibes coming our way!

Summer's All We Ever Wanted

Sunshine is the best thing ever and we've been having such a great time enjoying the last warm days of summer/fall. Just think that in a few months we'll be knee deep in snow and wearing warm turtlenecks and boots - YIKES.

In February when we are shoveling snow, I can look back on these pictures full of blue skies, sunshine, and beach and SMILE!

Hanging out at Pier Marquette beach with Grandma Johnson. We are so lucky that she is so close and we have the opportunity to get together so often. I LOVE seeing my mom... she is a ray of sunshine!

We had a beautiful hike with the MacIntyres into Saugatuck State Park and ended up at this amazing beach. The water was crystal clear & calm and the kids (both young and old) had so much fun swimming and running around the beach. We LOVE Saugatuck and vow to go there much more next summer.

Random act of KINDNESS

I was mopping the floors today and the UPS man stopped by and delivered a package. I thought it was our Charlie's Laundry soap (which we use for diapers), but it was something from Best Buy. WHAT??? I was super confused and dumfounded.

I opened it up and there it was... a brand new, shiny, digital camera!!! We for sure did not order anything from there (as many of you know our current economic situation), so someone out in this world sent us a wonderful gift and I have a sneaking suspicion of who it was :)

We've been without a camera for about a month and it has been miserable. Sadie's been getting so big and changing everyday and not being able to capture some of these great moments has been really a bummer.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to whomever sent us this wonderful surprise. We are super excited to have a camera again and to start taking millions of pictures and updating our blog with our exciting adventures!

This is the best package we have ever gotten.

Some Pictures from the past few weeks

Thanks mom & dad for taking such awesome pictures these past few weeks! 

Vacations all I ever wanted...

Vacation had to get away!

YAY, Kurt finally took a week off. The last time he had that much time off, we were moving - yuck.

We were sooooo excited to get away to the little cottage in Hagar Shores (10 miles south of South Haven) that it really didn't matter that the weather was gloomy for the entire time we were there. It was just so great to be together as a family and have Kurt around for a whole week - YAY!

We went to the beach our first day and enjoyed swimming and building sand castles. Sadie is fascinated by lady bugs there was one on a piece of driftwood that kept her attention for a long time. The weather turned and it got super windy and a little gloomy, so we packed up our beach gear and headed into South Haven for some yummy dinner at The Vineyard. This place has great pizza (Kurt says their pizza could use more sauce, but he could eat just sauce...) and is in an old church. It's a cross between old Italian mafia hangout and family restaurant - pretty nifty. 

Our next few days of vacation were gloomy, but great! We went into St. Joeseph and walked around and spent an hour or so at their children's museum. This place was AWESOME - I think Kurt and I had more fun exploring than Sadie :)

All in all, our 3 days @ the Hagar Shores cottage was delightful. We read, relaxed, played soccer, went flamingo hunting, played cards, read some more, took outdoor showers, went for walks, had a bonfire, and just had fun exploring new places. 

After our Hagar Shores adventure, we headed up to my folks place in Ludington. We went to their children's museum, ate some yummy food, relaxed in the hot tub, drank some cocktails, went on a hike in the state park, watched the Badger (car ferry from Ludington to WI) come into the harbor, and played played played. We had such a fun time on the 4th, grilling out, going to the parade, and watching the fireworks - Sadie was pretty tired, but was a trooper and would look up now and then and say 'boom' or 'pretty' - it was cute! Sunday was finally nice enough to head to the beach and we had a perfect day swimming, playing in the sand, and skim boarding (okay, we tried but didn't do so hot). 

It was so great to be in Ludington for the 4th and we couldn't believe how many people were around! Thanks mom & dad for an awesome end to our vacation - it was super fun!!!!

*note -  we also had ice cream every day of our vacation *

...and sorry that we don't have any pictures - I washed our camera a few weeks ago :( If anyone has an old digital camera they would like to loan us, that would be awesome. I am going crazy not taking any pictures. 

Happy Dad's Day, Kurt!

Kurt is an amazing father and wonderful husband. Want to know why?

• He changes numerous diapers and always washes out the poopy ones
• He loves bathtime and night night time with Sadie
• He makes us laugh and is goofy and doesn't care what people think of his silliness
• He makes Sadie breakfast every morning and they read a daily devotion
• He has a HUGE heart
• He gets up with Sadie in the middle of the night
• He is calm and relaxed
• He doesn't get mad when I wash my cell phone and our camera
• He brings me flowers
• He is the best hugger (if you ever need one, he's the one to call)
• He likes FUN

...these are just a few reasons and there are so many more!

Kurt's Bday, Hiking in Hoffmaster, Easter, Tiger's Game - it's been a busy month!

WOW, a month has already passed since my last post? So many things have happened in our lives... many glorious things and a few challenges that have made us stronger and closer. 

Sadie is a spitfire and is constantly pushing boundaries. Our latest challenge has been around her hitting, grabbing, and biting us and other kids. We just continue to be consistent with her discipline and give her lots of LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Some of the wonderful, fascinating, and fun things she is doing (that far outweigh her bad behavior) are: 

• giving tons of hugs and kisses
• coloring
  
• dancing
  
• putting shapes in the shape toy
  
• playing the kazoo (yep, she's a pro)
  
• playing outside and going up & down the slide by herself
  
• feeding herself with a spoon
  
• trying to jump, but not leaving the ground
  
• saying a ton of new words like: papa, gramma, baby, outside, milk, thank you, apple, shoe, poop, dog, gentle

Enjoy the pictures from the past month or so and I promise to be more consistent with updates *note - this is a pretty long post*

I'll start with Kurt's 33rd birthday, since that was April 1st!

We had a great time hanging out with family

and enjoyed a relaxing evening at home.

Kurt is so wonderful and anytime we can celebrate his

awesomeness I am all for it.

I am so thankful that you were born!

Sadie loves to help out with projects around the house

and we finally got her a toolset so she doesn't poke

her eye out with a real screwdriver. 

Playtime with friends is the BEST time!

We are so blessed to have met such wonderful friends in the area. After only living here a year, our lives have been enriched by the friends we've gotten to know and cherish.

Thanks to all you ladies for your support, love, patience, kindness, and laughter!

3 Easters and 3 Easter egg hunts... we are pros!

Our 1st Easter was with my family up in Ludington and it was Sadie's first go with the easter egg hunt. She was a little apprehensive at first, but once she got the hang of it she was off - she actually was more fascinated with what was inside the eggs than finding more. It was so awesome spending time with my mom, dad, angie, and the 3 boys... we of course went to house of flavors - awwwww yummy ice cream!

Our 2nd Easter was with our playgroup friends - Mandy and Michele organized a hunt for the kids and families and we all brought a yummy dish to pass. It was a great way to spend a Friday afternoon with some great friends on a gorgeous day.

Our 3rd Easter (and final) was really on Easter and started with just the 3 of us and ended at Kurt's folks place with his family. It was great to hide Sadie's and Kurt's Easter baskets and watch her discover it - there were fun things like a slinky, headband, and stickers in her basket. 

Kurt's family is super awesome and his sister Lisa and her family were down from Houghton, so it was such a treat to hang out with them. We also got to see some extended family that we don't get to see very often, so that was great to catch up with them. Plus, we got some awesome outdoor toys from Kurt's cousin (princess house, coupe car, and slide)!

Connor's 5th birthday party and Tigers game

We always have such a great time when we visit the Cooper family and this time was no exception. Angie, Adam, and the boys are the best hosts and we had a blast at Connor's 5th Birthday party at the YMCA pool, playing kickball, jumping around in the bounce house, and going for walks!

Sadie and Granpa taking a nap on the way to Angie and Adam's - super adorable

...our visit ended with an impromptu Tigers game on Sunday afternoon. It was a brilliant day, so what better way to spend it than at a baseball game. It was super fun and Sadie did fantastic - she was entertained by the boys, my mom, and Angie the entire game. It really helped that Angie had a few tricks up her sleeve - the BEST being a tootsie pop (how many licks to get to the center???).

Much love and hugs to you all,

-Kurt, Alisa, and Sadie