Play Date with the Ringmans

I'm a little behind on posting things on here sorry. A short while ago Angie, Riley and Brenden Ringman came to Michigan for a visit. Their dad/husband Ben will be coming home from Iraq in about a month, after being there for more then a year. Time was going slow so Angie wanted to come home so of course we had to have a play date.

Who doesn't love the ball popper!?! Just a reminder Brenden is 10 days older the Megan.

Megan loves squeezing between the chair and the wall. This time she was playing "hide and seek" or her version of it behind the table leg. Brenden wanted to try but he was to tall to get under the table.

When they we leaving Riley wanted to go on the swing. So naturally the two little ones wanted to go on the swing as well. We all had fun and all of us are excited that Ben will be home soon and for good!

"Graze to Raise" Big Dogs and A Baby Shower

Last weekend a group of us took part in "Graze to Raise" a fundraiser for the Hickman Cancer Center. The fundraiser involves walking around Adrian and stopping to "graze" at food booths set up along the path. The food is donated and prepared by several local restaurants. It is a nice fundraiser that gets people moving and allows them to sample food from some of our local restaurants.****Notice the two women wearing purple bandannas, they are cancer survivors. Also in our our group was Beth Wiley, she is another breast cancer survivor.

This year was the 3rd year for this event. Last year Megan was too young, but I think the finally stop was at our house to visit Megan. This year we were able to participate. Of course this year was a little more meaningful, knowing two women fighting breast cancer. Here is Megan trying to steal Grandma's balloon.
The balloon release to start "Graze to Raise" All of the kids watched the balloons float away until they were little specks. It was cute.

After about 2 hours of grazing, the weather had warmed up and Megan and I were enjoying the wild outdoors, complete with purple deer!

I just read in the paper that "Graze to Raise 2008" raised $75,000 for the Hickman Cancer Center. Part of the money goes to cancer research and part of the money goes to help people pay for their cancer treatments.

Tim and Ann came down to take part in "Graze to Raise" they couldn't leave their dogs at home so they came too. Here is Megan next to Callie, a St. Bernard, who is very sweet and very big.
Next we have Libby, a golden retriever, also very sweet but not so big. Then when you add Rudy, my parents dog, that made 3 big dogs in one house!

Here is Megan starring at everyone at Kyrah's baby shower. Kyrah came "home" for the weekend so her mom, Beth, could throw her a baby shower. Little Chase Halloran is due in January, and everyone is excited. It was good so see Kyrah and fun knowing that Chase will be coming soon.

Fun Fall Colors

Megan stopping to "pet" the mums that are in our front yard. Everyday when we take off for our walk, she stops to visit. She is very cute, she tries to pull a flower off but most of the time she just kind of stares at them as if they are going to do a trick.I finally found our fall decoration and couldn't resist posing Megan for a picture. She likes the new additions to our yard. Like the mums, she has to visit the pumpkins everyday.

One of the many pictures I took trying to get Megan to look at the camera. She just wanted to see if the stem tasted good. She determined that it doesn't taste so great.

Like any girl from Lenawee County, she has to learn the difference between straw and hay. We have straw in our front yard. One day she went over to the straw, plucked out a piece and stuck it in her mouth. Yeah, she knows that even though we live in a "city" she's still a country girl.

*******I should mention that these pictures were taken the day after the previous pictures of Megan in the white sleeveless outfit. Notice the difference in clothing. What a difference a day makes, Michigan weather, got to love it!******

Enjoying the Warm Weather

Last weekend was possibly the last warm weekend for the year so a bunch of us went to Grandma and Papa's house. Megan is wearing one of her birthday outfits. I tried to have her wear it on our Chicago trip, but it fell off of her. So knowing it wouldn't be warm long, I had to make sure she wore this adorable outfit at least once, because I hope she will be out of 6-9 months by the time the weather is warm again! Megan is trying to figure out why Morgan and Caila were swimming in the cold lake. It was 84 degrees outside but the water was cold!
Cute!
Possibly my new favorite picture.
Caila and Morgan were playing crochet and Megan was taking it all in. I had to get Megan her own stick and ball so the girls could keep playing without Megan trying to steal their stick.
Just trying to figure out how the two of these things work together. She got the idea after awhile. Just more and more evidence that golf with be in her future!

The 'C' Word...

So here is the result of our Halloween Cookie Extravaganza! Megan figured out where the cookies were in our kitchen. So she would stand next to the counter and ask for a cookie. Every day the pronunciation of "cookie"changes. Today it sounded like this. You have to listen close, if I had to spell how she pronounces it, I would say "ccccc-he" After this video, we had to move the ccccc-hies because she wouldn't stop asking for them. We also learned that you can't say the "c" word unless you want to hear Megan beg for a cookie. It's cute, but when she doesn't get one, it's not so cute! Because of this Megan gets to learn that she doesn't get things by crying. Fun times in the Schutte house all because of ccccc-hies!

Oh, the hand signal she gives is her version of "more" For anyone who taught their babies sign language knows that her version is no where close to the real signal for more. Oh well, we know what her version means so I guess it's something.

Halloween Cookie Time!!!

"Alright, I have my rolling pin now what?"
"Oh, you need to roll the dough first."
"This rolling pin is a lot more fun when I'm making real cookies"
"I can't believe my mom stopped my fun just so she could have her picture taken."
"I think the elephant should go right here. But I think I need to poke the dough to see if it's thin enough."

"Hey, how come I didn't get any of that frosting stuff to play with!?!"

"That's ok, I'll just sneak a cookie instead!"

"Caila read my mind...my frosting!"

Someone likes to be outside

The other morning Megan was very insistent on going outside. We normally go outside after Megan wakes up from her nap, that way we can play outside as long as Megan wants. One this COLD morning she spotted her coats hanging up and pointed to them. I gave one coat to her, then she wanted the other one, then she took both of them to the front door. Yeah, she is very clear at what she wants. I knew she wouldn't wait to get dressed, so I shoved her shoes on over her PJ feet, put her coat on and out we went.
Great fashion statement huh!?! Megan likes to sit on the steps, walk around to the back gate, then back to the steps. Along the way she will stop to play with the moss that grows in our driveway, she'll collect pine cones and her latest excitement comes when she finds a rock she can carry.
Just walking down the sidewalk looking cute. You'll notice that she is carrying her treasures. In one hand she had a pine cone and a wood chip, and in the other hand she has a pine cone and a rock. She just loves being outside, which makes me a little concerned on what it will be like when we have a foot of snow outside. Let's hope I have some time to figure that out before the first snow comes!

A fun weekend

Here is the only picture I got of Adrian High School's homecoming parade. But Megan liked the horses the best so it's ok. We are lucky, all we have to do is walk around the block to watch the parade. Like last year, we sat with Rosemary Olsaver and her grandparents, and since it was at lunchtime Mike Olsaver and Mark were able to watch with us. Megan liked the beginning when the band walked by and the end with the horses. She had fun and it was great weather.

Later, we went to dinner with the Olsaver's then on to the football game. Megan had a great time...playing with her spoon! I think she watched the band and the people in the stands, but as for the game, not so much. She did get compliments as I took her home at half-time. The people around us were impressed at her behavior, meaning that she could be quietly occupied while the adults talked/watched. They liked that we weren't afraid to take her places.
Why we had a ton of candy chucked at our heads I have no idea. The high school kids would drive/walk by and say "Cute baby" then throw candy at her. Umm, she's one, not really old enough for candy. But as you can see she claimed two suckers and made sure they stayed with her at all times. No, she did not get to eat them, they just became another thing to pick up and carry.
Opps, I dropped a sucker.
Then on Saturday night, Mark and I went out to dinner with Jon and Jolene Bowles, one of Mark's old coworkers. Megan stayed home with Grandma and Papa Schutte. We had fun catching up with Jon and Jolene, it was good to be with just adults. When we got home this is what we found. Why is it that Megan sleeps so well with her grandparents. Every time she is alone with any of them, when we get home she is either asleep or took a super long nap. Anyways, Megan had fun playing and getting in some extra cuddle time before they head down to Florida for the winter.

It was a good weekend had by all.

Spoons, spoons, spoons...

So Megan's latest toy that isn't a toy is a spoon. Spoons of all shapes, sizes and colors will make Megan smile. After she is done eating her food she can't wait until I clean the spoon off and hand it to her. She grabs it, then takes off to find something to stir. As you can see, she prefers to stir Baron's food. In this picture she is holding the spoon I ate my cereal with and a big serving spoon.
Cheeseball!!! This is Megan's latest grin. When she hears the camera turn on, she stops what she is doing, turns towards the camera and grins. I'm shocked that she stopped stirring the food to pose for a picture. It got to the point that I had to go out and buy little flat pieces of wood (they are big enough that they aren't a choking hazard) for her to stir in a bowl because when I put her blocks in a bowl she looked at me as if I was crazy because I put her blocks in a bowl. Blocks are for building not stirring, silly me!
Another example of her grin. She's cute!

Just a quick video to show you how focused Megan gets when she is playing with spoons. This is the first time she filled up a bowl with food normally she scoops it into the spoon then walks around with it. She can walk about 10 feet before the piece of food falls off the spoon. Pretty impressive for a 13 month old. I hope this video isn't too dark, the lighting in our house stinks, but you should get the idea.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Hello ladies, just passing along that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! As you all know, 2008 has been a crappy year when talking about breast cancer. It started off with our friend Michele being diagnosed, who after 9 months of treatments has beat cancer. Then in June, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. After having two mastectomies she has beat cancer.

While Michele and my mom had two VERY different types of breast cancer and two VERY different forms of attack both of them are doing so well because of EARLY DETECTION!!! So please ask your doctor when you need to start annual mammograms and learn how to do self-breast exams. 5 minutes a month might just save your life! So keep talking about breast cancer, the more you talk, the more comfortable you'll feel about keep up to date with your breast health.