Happy 18th Birthday Josh and Happy Halloween

Today is my first baby's 18th birthday. I still can't believe it has been 18 years since I first saw his little face. We brought him home on Nov. 2nd, 1990 and it was 70 degrees out that day - not normal Michigan weather for sure! That first night home he was a little fussy so Charlie and I slept on our bedroom floor with him between us (We had a waterbed so that would not have been good in our bed). He was a really great kid and he has grown up into a responsible, polite, loving, hard working, and intelligent young man. We are very proud of him and know he will do great things in this world and never let any grass grow under his feet. Here is a picture of him just a couple days ago wearing his favorite shirt that he has worn since 4th grade (you can see him wearing it years ago in the little apple picture).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH - WE LOVE YOU!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!

PINK...PINK...PINK... We cannot believe it - It's a GIRL! Can you tell I'm excited! My brother just called and he said those words I never thought HE would say It's a Girl! If you don't already know, my brother has 3 wonderful boys: Matthew 5 yrs.old, John 3 yrs. old and Justin 2 yrs. old and now they have a little girl....Carolyn Marie. My parents now have 5 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. Just one year ago it was 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter - the girls are catching up. I will post a picture when I get there to see her ... hopefully tomorrow evening. Lia now has a little cousin to play with - very fun!

Another Special Delivery!!

Not quite the same kind of Special Delivery as our last one. We are awaiting the news of my new niece or nephew. My brother Kevin and his wife Kathleen are at the hospital today having their fourth child. Their other three children are sons, so we are hoping this one is going to be a daughter/niece/grandaughter. Of course, we will be thrilled with either a boy or girl. I will post as soon as we find out!

We also had a special visitor today! ABIGAIL and her mom, Janell. Janell dropped her kids off at school and had to kill a little time before an appt. so they came over to play for a little while. Lia always loves to have friends over and it was great to see Janell again. Abigail gets bigger every time I see her and she changes so much, such a little sweetie. Her and Lia play well together. Thanks for coming over Janell and Abigail - we had fun!

Special Delivery!

Lia received a package today from her friend Zoe. The box arrived on our doorstep just after lunchtime and it was addressed to Lia and Aaron. Lia was so excited so we opened the box up. There, underneath the "EWWWWW" underwear and other clothes Aaron left at the Freeby's in September was a package wrapped up for Lia's birthday. She was so excited she tore into it immediately. You can see from the pictures that loves her present! She played with it for about a half hour until I broke the news that it was naptime for her, I know MEAN MOMMY!

Zoe, Thank You so much for the dolly for Lia - she LOVES it!

Also, Liz thanks so much for sending Aaron's clothes and hat - I can't believe you kept his yucky underwear around for that long!!! You are truly wonderful friends and we can't wait to see you all again.

Beautiful Fall Day

Sunday was a lovely warm Fall day. We went outside and played in the yard. Of course, Aarons favorite is playing catch with dad. He insisted that they both put on their Notre Dame jerseys and go out and play catch. I even got in the game a little and did some blocking, however, I don't have any pictures of that - ON PURPOSE. Lia went on the swings with our neighbor Emma. Emma turned 3 in June so they are about the same age. They have fun playing together.

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from "The Birthday". There is also a close up picture of her dress. I have worked many hours on this dress as it was my real first attempt at sewing actual clothing. Usually I make purses or bags or doll accessories. I was pretty pleased how it came out and got many compliments at the party.

Birthday Pictures

Lia had a wonderful birthday party. Everyone came over about 6:30pm and then we did a pinata outside right away before it got dark. Lia pulled the lucky string to release the candy and then the kids went crazy. After the pinata we came back inside and had a few munchies and then opened presents. Wow, this girl got a ton a presents! After presents we had cake and ice cream, of course it was a DORA cake. My dad has never heard of Dora - well, he sure got an education last night! My parents were the last to leave and they left about 9:30pm. Those that came to the party were: Grandma and Grandpa Rahe, Grandma Irish, Aunt Rhonda, Randy, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Kathleen, Matthew, John, Justin, Aunt Leanore, Zach, and Eric. Lia was super tired but had a hard time falling asleep. It is now 8:00am the morning after and she is still zonked out. I think she has figured out that this birthday thing is pretty fun. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy Birthday Lia!!

Today is our sweet baby's 3rd birthday! She woke up nice and early this morning and keeps saying "It's my birthday!" Alyssa already gave her the present she bought her - a Dora camera - so she is having fun with that right now. We will have a family birthday party tonight for her so I will post pictures later. It's so hard to believe how far she has come since January and I know I am going to cry when we all sing "Happy Birthday" - I cry just thinking about it. She is such a joy and we all can't imagine life without her.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIA, WE LOVE YOU!

Pumpkin Hunting

We spent Saturday afternoon at a local pumpkin patch. Charlie, I, Lia and Aaron all went. We had cider and donuts and played with the bikes and in the straw barn. They also had kitties and goats and ducks and bunnies to pet and play with. Then we headed out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our prize pumpkins that Charlie will carve this year. Lia kept trying to pick up the huge pumpkins, but then settled for a little one that was "Lia's size". It was a beautiful fall warm afternoon and we had a great time.

The first picture is of Lia in her new Halloween shirt that we bought while we were visiting the Freeby's. Zoe has a matching shirt in Minnesota so we wanted to put it on here so they could see Lia wearing it.

Homecoming

The top picture is of Alyssa and her date, Collin.

The bottom picture is of Josh and his date, Alicia.

The kids had a great time at Homecoming this year - If I may say so myself they DO clean up pretty good.

JUST GETTING BACK INTO THIS BLOGGING THING!

So we are going to close down our babyjellybeans site very soon and decided to start this blog back up. We have been very busy lately and so I am not sure how much I will be posting, but check back often to see updates on our family.

Josh is now a Senior and is on the Soccer team right now. They haven't won a game yet this year, but it is a new program for our school so they are just starting to get it up and running. The team has definitely shown improvement and I am very excited for them in the coming years even though Josh will not be playing with them. Josh also has a job at Schuler Books in their Cafe. He enjoys his job and the money helps to keep his tank filled.

Alyssa is a Sophomore and has been keeping busy with JV cheerleading. When sideline cheer is done she will join the Competitive Cheer team - she really enjoys the cheer and gymnastics. She is also involved in Hip Hop dance and will have a recital at the end of the school year.

Aaron is in 4th grade and is on the Rocket Football team. He is sort of the star of their team. He has made 2 touchdowns each in the last 2 games. We are so proud of him and I love it when I hear his name on the loudspeaker - I even cried the first time he made a touchdown - I guess that's what proud moms do!

Lia is almost 3 years old now. She talks a ton and can count to 10 and sings songs and is just a complete joy. We are still working on the potty training. She seems interested but when I ask her to sit on the potty, I get a resounding "NO". We have caught her a few times and got her to do #2 on the potty so at least she is getting the idea.

Tonight is our Homecoming game and tomorrow the dance so the kids are all very excited. The 3 older kids are all riding on floats and throwing candy. I guess its up to Lia and I to catch enough candy for all 4 kids!

We have also made the sad decision to sell our boat. It is just not big enough for all of us anymore and it has become a "chore" lately to go there and stay on it. We have thoroughly enjoyed the times we had with it, but all good things must come to an end. :-( We are now talking about putting in a pool if the boat sells - stay tuned!

Take care,
Love, Colleen