Weekend projects

Before winter came Mark needed to stop a leak in on of our hose bibs (to prevent a major leak if it froze) Mark had to go in the crawl space and asked if Megan wanted to go. She was SO excited. She changed into work clothes, grabbed a flashlight and off they went. She was helped follow the pipes to find the shut-off and really didn't want to leave the crawl space.

When they we done and after I helped get her out, she quickly informed me that she needs to have a flash light that goes on her head like Daddy's and it has to be blue! I guess I need to get her one if I want her to keep helping with projects.

Finally, we are going to tile our back splash! We have had the tiles for months but didn't want to take up a summer weekend for an indoor project so now that we were hosting Thanksgiving, we had to get it done. Here is a boring before picture.

Megan was warned that she was going to have to entertain herself for most of the day so she started off watching Olivia upside down. But once we changed it to a non-kid show, she moved on to other odd activities to keep her busy.

I took a lot of time to lay out the pattern just to make sure we had enough of the small tiles.

At this point, we were already sore from leaning over the counter and under the cupboards. Not even halfway done and I thought it was never going to end.

Comedic relief! Megan came scooting into the kitchen on her lady bug, wearing her "bike helmet" and her tu-tu made from a foam floor puzzle piece. She is a little weird sometimes.

Worst position ever!!! Behind the stove, under the microwave, straddling a gas line...horrible! I'm sore even thinking about it.

But I guess it was worth all of the pain, so pretty! I even leave the under cabinet lights on when we leave just because it is so pretty. The glass tile just looks so good when the light shines on it.

It was hard to get a good picture of the tile that doesn't make it look "flat" but at least you can see the pattern. So glad it is over and our kitchen remodel is officially done!

Playing Catch-Up

In the beginning of October Megan and her friend Chase spent a morning playing at Carpenter Farms before picking out their Halloween pumpkins.

We spent some time in the straw pit playing on the climbing rope,going to the slide and just climbing bales of straw. Megan loves it!

I think we found a few pumpkins! Not all of these were ours, but we did buy a few to carve and use as decorations around the house. But I will always buy my pumpkins at Carpenter Farms, because the kids can play, pet farm animals, go on hay rides, walk through corn mazes etc. for free! Love this farm!!!

Halloween dinner at Lenawee Country Club before Grandma and Papa Schutte leave for Florida. Megan was excited to finally wear the Big Bird costume and I was happy the Grandma and Papa got to see her in her costume.

Megan showing Grandma and Papa how to play a matching game on an iphone. So priceless watching Papa taking lessons from Megan.

It's "Little Big Bird" That is what Megan kept calling her costume, it was adorable.

Megan and some of her friends. Some came to our house for dinner and some just came for trick-or-treating and it was so much fun seeing all of the kids getting so excited running from house to house getting candy.

Megan couldn't keep up with all of the walking and had to be carried and had to skip a lot of house to keep up with the group. But don't worry, she got plenty of candy and we still have some left!

The girls from Merry Marketplace. Another fun weekend where the adults and some kids made some money, but more importantly, Megan got to play with her cousins.

How many kids can you fit in a phone booth? After Merry Marketplace we all went to dinner at The Beach Bar and while waiting for food the girls were entertaining themselves. Interesting note: I took this photo in the dark and I was very impressed that I was able to see all of their little faces on the first try.

Appleumpkin

It was a beautiful fall afternoon, Megan's cousins were in town and we all we excited to spend some time at the Appleumpkin Festival in Tecumseh. Megan could have cared less about the shopping and just wanted to get to the camel we told her about. So $15.00 later the three girls were riding a camel. (for about 3 minutes, that camel brings in some big bucks!!!)

They all look so cute. How many people can say that they have been on a camel!?! Plus not to mention, does this look like downtown Tecumseh...no.

Next we were off to Kapnick's Orchard to shop, pet the animals and pick some apples. After walking down the rows of apple trees for a while, we finally found some apples at child friendly levels.

Where's Megan?

After our bag was filled, the girls grabbed an apple for the road and then I made them pose for a picture :) It was a great day and the weather was perfect. I'll say it again, I love the simple things in life!

These shoes are cute and annoying too.

Grandma Berthold bought Megan some new shoes that just happened to have squeakers in them. When Megan put them on, Baron went crazy. The squeaker sounds exactly the same as the squeaker in his toys. He couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from and as you will see Megan loved teasing him.

Megan LOVES running circles around our kitchen island. She is always going in a circle so of course she had to take her squeaky shoes for a lap around the island.

Birthday Celebration Week!

Yes I realize that it has been a long time since I have posted anything but we have been busy! Birthdays, 10 days in California and then trying to get back to normal. But all of our business means that we have fun pictures so enjoy!
The week of Megan's birthday her cousins were visiting so she spent lots of time at the lake. She said earlier in the summer that she wanted to learn how to fish and a few days before her birthday she caught her first fish!!! She was very excited. When I asked her how she did caught the fish she told me in great detail "I hold it, I wind it, and then I catch my first fish!" Add an adorable little shoulder shrug and that is what she told me :)

When I asked Megan what she wanted for her birthday she said "Fancy balloons." So Mark and I got her fancy balloons!

Funny story with this picture. To hard to explain, but it was funny.

Kelsey, Megan, Morgan and Caila getting ready to eat birthday cupcakes!

Megan liked her cupcake just a little.

What is a birthday without gifts? Here is Megan holding up her mama and baby moo-moo cows. She loves cows, so for awhile these guys went everywhere with us.

After spending the morning at the lake, we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Berthold's house for dinner and more gifts. Megan was very excited to open up a bigger hockey jersey and matching hockey socks! Yep she is going to be pretty cute at the hockey arena this year! (side note: Every day since the college students have gone back she has asked, "Is it hockey season yet?")

Fancy balloons weren't enough for a birthday, so Mark and I also got her, her first Playdoh fun factory thing. This set makes movie theater food and she loved it!

And since Megan is slightly obsessed with Tim Horton's Tim-Bits (doughnut holes) I just had to make her "cake" out of Tim-Bits! She knew right away that they were Tim-Bits and went straight for the chocolate ones. She even tried to steal my chocolate Tim-Bit away from me after she pretended to cuddle with me! It was cute, but birthday or not, she was not getting my Tim-Bit.

Guess who is 3!?!

Yesterday we celebrated Megan's 3rd birthday. I can't believe she is 3 years old already, I know I say this every year, but this past year went way too fast! Here are some of the fun things that Megan learned/experienced in the past year:

• She has learned how to sing her ABC's and count to 20 (give or take random numbers at random times)
• She has mastered climbing a ladder and sliding down slides.
• She moved into a beautiful new house and it never even phased her.
• She is willing to say "hi" to anyone that will look at her (slowly starting to become less shy)
• She can peddle her tricycle like the best of them!
• She can follow directions and says "please" and "thank you" most of the time without prompting.
• She has been potty trained for a while and is very good at letting everyone know when she needs to go potty.

So as you can see she has learned lots of useful things this year. Can't wait to see what new skills she will discover next.

Her 2nd birthday

It looks like she has grown a little bit in the last year.

1 month old

Aww, my sweet little tiny baby. Megan has been pretending to be a baby lately and she wants Mark and I to wrap her up like a baby, only problem is her baby blankets are all too small :(
Such a happy 3 year old. Love love love her to pieces! Mark and I love being her daddy and mommy and everyday we say "She's cute!" Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Moo-moo Cows!!!

While at a family reunion, Megan got to take a tour of the Marvin family Dairy Farm. She was super excited to go see moo-moo cows up close. This was the first calf Megan met at the farm. As you can see, Megan was a little unsure, I think she always forgets how big cows are in real life. (This little calf was very cute, he had freckles all over his nose and butt)

Megan saying "hi" to all of the cows. I believe all of the cows in this barn either just had babies or were about to have babies.

Maria was showing Megan that calves will suck on your finger because they think it is a bottle. Megan did not want to try, but I think a couple of calves licked her when she got a little too close.

Megan wanted to show her moo-moo cow to the real cows. Maria was very excited to learn that Megan brought her own cow with her to the family reunion. (Side note: At the fair Megan had to find Maria to show her the 2 new stuffed cows she got)

"One of these things is not like the other" Megan found a spot in the middle of the calves where they could not reach her.

Megan and Grandma Schutte taking formula to the calves. The calves drink their moms milk for the first couple days but then they drink formula...who knew!?!

After drinking the buckets of formula dry, the calves will lick the formula off of their neighbors mouths. It was funny to see. These cows REALLY like their formula!

And then at the end, Megan was trying to feed the biggers cows hay. Too bad she kept finding the shortest pieces of hay and the cows just couldn't grab them. But she tried and had lots of fun. I think if Megan ever needs a summer job, she could work at the Marvin Dairy Farm, and she would love it!

Megan's First Firework Show!!!

This 4th of July was the first time we took Megan to see the fireworks. We knew it was going to be late and we wanted to make the whole event special so we stopped and got Wesco popcorn (Megan's favorite) and slushies (Megan has never had them before) Just look at those smiles, Megan and Daddy were all set for the show.

Just laying back relaxing before it got dark. (for the record, Megan only had about 5 sips of slushie, we shared one)

We had lots of time to wait and since Megan isn't awake when the fireflies are out, Mark was showing her the fireflies. At first they scared her, but then she really liked them.

It got cold really quick! So Mark and Megan had to bundle up to stay warm. Still waiting for the fireworks...

...fading fast. We brought along "GloDude" Megan's fancy flashlight so she was having fun watching him change colors, but that only lasted so long. After waiting for it to get dark, we had to wait for some motorcycle races to stop (surrounded by lots of unhappy families at this point)

YAY, they started!!! I'll save you from looking at tons of firework photos, but I liked this one because you can see all of the smoke coming from the fireworks. It was a good show and Megan did have fun once they started. She slept very well once we got home :)