Clapping Baby

I honestly have a lot I could say, I just don't want to. So I will leave you with a little video of Bishop clapping. Jason helps him a little bit but he has definitely gotten the hang of clapping on his own. Sweet babies :)

The video is a few days old so he has mastered clapping without help now.

Swelling and ring cutting

My finger swelled badly today and this was the look of it around my wedding and engagement rings. It became so bad that I actually had to cut them off :( which yes, does make me sad. I feel so naked without them.

They are currently sitting in a safe place in hopes that I can save them. I can probably have my engagement ring saved but not my wedding ring. That one had to really be cut. It sucks but I would hate to see what would have happened had I left them on. Its definitely bruised, red and still swollen. Icing it hasn't taken it down at all. I hate you weather. Hate you.

We talked about possibly getting tattooed bands. I want roman numerals of our wedding date. Keep your opinions to yourself about this one please. I do plan on replacing both rings when possible as well. I hate not having them on me but nothing I can do about it right now.

This is the before photo and here are the afters. I'm about to go head to bed and wait for Jason to call from break . Tomorrow I am selling my lens! Yes, thank you thank you thank you. Much needed. I can buy the diapers we need to replace (I didn't think about this very well when we bought these diapers in the first place almost 3 years ago). Chunks McGee is definitely growing. OS dipes it is for us.

Goodnight! I leave you with the angry finger.

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day!

Jason, you are by far an amazing father and wonderful husband. You work so hard for us, do so much for us, you mean everything to us. We love you dearly.

Holding Gage at a few hours old.

Holding Dane for the first time.

And now I can add Bishop! Holding Bish for the first time :)

Happy Fathers Day, we love you so much.

Chubbo Bubbo

Today was Bishop's 9 month well baby check up. I took a poll on my facebook to see what people thought he weighed just based off my profile photo. Two people guessed correct. Bishop is 21lbs, he is in the 50th percentile for his weight and he is 28" long and in the 50th for that as well. His curve ball just blew up recently. Thank goodness! She is very happy with his progress and how great he's doing. She said everything sounded great and is happy with his progress on milestones and weight.

Dane has been super clingy today. Very mama oriented. Which is great but definitely odd. He's not normally like that. I will take the snuggles that I can get so I won't complain. He wasn't acting any different feeling wise just has been attached to my hip pretty much. We watched Booty and the Beast or since he just directly asks for Beast most of the time. Followed by Pinocchio. Dane went down for a nap and Gage wanted to watch Pinocchio again so we did. I don't get my kids and their wanting to watch several movies at least twice a day haha.

Weather was beautiful! Love this weather and temp. Loving being able to have my windows open and have a decent cool breeze go through. Heart it.

Well, going to go cuddle up with the injured husband. Goodnight!

Photo blog is updated as well.

I never thought I'd be so happy to see Window's installing..

Never in my life would I have ever thought to be so happy to see Window's downloading. My heart forever belongs to Apple. We couldn't get the old desktop to work. Jason tried many different things but it wouldn't go. This one technically is two different computers put into one. We had a disc from our old laptop for Window's Vista but combined the computer didn't have enough RAM memory to support it. We bought one but it didn't fit. A wonderful wonderful friend sent us extra RAM she had and thankfully, it work! So finally instead of typing from my Evo, I am using our desktop. While not an Apple, this thing will do just fine for now. Giggity giggity. I am a happy camper.

Today was my moms birthday so, Happy Birthday Mom! We went over there and had a delicious steak dinner. Cake and ice cream. Followed by a game of Euchre. I hope she had a good birthday. The boys weren't listening that well and Bishop fought sleep. But all in all it was a decent day there.

The guy came to look at the Quad. Figured that it started for Jason but didn't start for the guy. It works, it sat in the garage all winter un touched. The battery needs more charging that's all. Hopefully he'll come back tomorrow and if not I'll contact the next guy who wanted to see it.

My lovely husband wrenched his back while working with the quad today. He didn't have his footing right while lifting and hurt his back. He went to Urgent Care after we got home from my moms and just called me. He pinched a nerve as well as tore a muscle. Poor guy. He's on weight restrictions and can't lift more then 20lbs for two weeks. So hopefully he will be okay at work with his job. He lifts heavy things but he said if he stays away from certain areas he should be good.

That's it for today. My camera is still importing photos. Oh yay, I get to finally start to edit photos again! This makes me happy haha.

Goodnight.

It's the great pumpkin! Or not..

October is by far probably my favorite month out of the whole year. Where we live the tree colors are changed, the air is crisp and the temps are nice and cool. Its my ideal weather. If only it could be like this all year. Comfortable and beautiful. Ha, if only! This past weekend was a very good one, one we haven't had in a long time. Saturday we got the boys their halloween costumes and then had my mom and step-dad over for homemade pizza and a few rounds of Euchre (you-ker). Jason and I beat their butts by the way, but thats another post to brag about.

Sunday we decided since we knew this would be the only time this month we'd have extra money to do it, we'd go to the pumpkin patch. This is one tradition we do yearly. I grew up going with my mom and apple picking as well that it was something that I wanted to continue with my children. It's fun going out in a tractor into the fields to search for your perfect pumpkin, instead of going into a grocery store and just grabbing one.

We had a great time, everything came together how we wanted. Dane was cute because he was afraid of the big tractor as it came back to pick us up. He held onto me and Jason got a photo of him. He looked so afraid! Gage had a blast picking out the gigantic pumpkins. He kept wanting to take them home haha. We finally settled on 3 pumpkins. Gage got the biggest, Dane the medium and Bishop the smallest.

Both boys enjoyed the tractor ride and Bishop slept soundly in the moby wrap. It was an all around good day despite a few setbacks, we all had fun. Oh and got some very yummy donuts and cider!

I love this time of year because of these things. Making special memories for my boys that I had when I was growing up. Each year it'll get better and better. These are memories I want my boys to have forever.

See the rest beyond this link!

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day!

I hope all you fathers out there had a wonderful day with your families. I want to do a quick post to honor my husband, the awesome, loving, caring father to my two almost three boys :)

I love you and they do too!

Jason and Gage ♥

Jason and Dane ♥


I can't wait to add Bishop and Jason's photo!

A Sunday "Adventure" (image heavy.)

This has been a long weekend due to the holiday today. With all going on in our lives we wanted to get out of the house, spend time with the boys. Just the four of us. We spent a few hours in the morning trying to figure out what we could do that would be fun for all of us but didn't cost a lot of money. We came up with going to the Dunes.

Where we live is a gorgeous area of the state. However, being a tourist town prices are jacked up during summer and it can make those on a budget a bit difficult to do things there. So, we sat down and talked it out. Decided that since we're not that far from Lake Michigan, we'd head out to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Its only $10 for the park fee and its good up to 7 days. So thats a slight perk :). We packed up the boys, some drinks and snacks, bought some sunscreen (which I have been meaning to do!) and headed out.

Many years ago, in a state now called Wisconsin, lived a mother bear and her two cubs. One day, as they were in the woods gathering food, a fire broke out. All of the animals, including the mother bear and her cubs, had to leave the forest. The mother bear and her cubs swam across Lake Michigan to the state we now call Michigan. It was a very long swim. Soon, the two cubs grew very tired and fell behind their mother. When the mother bear came to the shores of Michigan, she climbed to the highest point she could find, a large hill made of sand, and waited for the cubs. She waited and waited and waited. But her cubs could not make the long journey. Instead, the Great White Spirit, who watched over all the animals, turned the cubs into two islands. The mother bear, who soon grew tired, saw her two cubs in the lake and knew that the Great White Spirit had taken care of them. She soon saw the two islands in Lake Michigan. Knowing that her cubs were safe, she soon fell fast asleep. Today, the cubs are known as North Manitou Island and South Manitou Island. Their mother, who the Great Spirit covered with sand to keep warm, now watches over her cubs from her spot atop the giant hill made of sand. We call her Sleeping Bear Sand Dune.

We left a bit later in the day, around 2:30pm I believe. It was a Sunday though and no plans to do anything early the next day anyways. Dane was a bit antsy in the car but did better going there then back. He's not a car baby. Gage, fell asleep 5 miles outside of our neighborhood! Kid was conked out.

This is where our whole "adventure" began. Mind you, we've never actually traveled this way by ourselves. We have always gone with my mom and step-dad, never paid attention to the actual route. We did a quick look up on the internet before we left. No real directions - ha, yeah, that should scream trouble right there. We kinda went out of our way haha, passed right by where we wanted to go. Both of us saw it but never really put two and two together. Yup, we're idiots. We admit it! In a way though, it was nice. Such beautiful scenery. I wish I had taken more pictures then I did but in a moving car, not quite as easy and I wasn't going to ask him to pull over. Dane was in the car and awake, that would have equaled screams haha.

We turned around and *gasp* he ASKED for directions! This is the 2nd time in my life I have ever witnessed a male asking for directions. But then again, i was sitting next to both of them in the car telling them to ask for the damn directions because we're freaking lost. This time, we felt like idiots though haha. However, what's done is done and we finally made it to our destination.

Gage was getting antsy and upset. Understandable but a whiney 4 year old can get old at times. This started to be one because of how he was whining. I was determined to make it up to him so I didn't let his mood ruin mine.

We pulled in, paid and went on our merry little way. Where we passed by our first marker. The covered Bridge. I left the little booklet outside that describes each marker .. I probably should have brought it in haha. Anyways we went through and up to the main destinations. To view the Dunes and Lake Michigan. I have been here several times and still the view of the lake is beautiful. Especially when you go on a day we did, clear skies, just all around wonderful. The first one we stopped at, a view of the Dunes was just awesome. I don't ever personally recall going there, I may have when I was younger or such. I just don't have my own recollection of it. Taking the boys there was fun. Them seeing it, more so Gage because hes at an age where he'll remember. He's been there once before, when he was only 7 months old. But now, he can enjoy it in his own little 4 year old way! Here is a picture of Gage standing in the same spot 4 years later.

It's neat to be able to take him back there. I do wish I had the old photo saved onto this laptop. I'd share it for reference. This trip also lead to it being Dane's first time there and his first time seeing and feeling sand. It was pretty neat. Gage didn't take to sand kindly the first time like Dane. It was cute trying to see Dane walk on it. All in all this trip was nice and honestly, a much needed break from our daily lives with the constant unknowns and stress. Taking the boys out, spending time with them and leaving everything else behind at home was what I believe we all needed. I took a ton of photos and wish I had remembered to bring my tripod, so no actual full family shots of us all. Sad day. I am happy we went and Gage loved playing in the sand. We think we brought half of it back with him in his pockets and shoes. So I will end this with pictures from that day. Not all of them have uploaded and I'm slightly annoyed by that but right now, I have other things in my life that are a bigger worry then a few pictures not being uploaded! I will add them once I can get them on here. 

xx

Marisa

The rest of the photos are under this "read more" link - so just click on that.

Wait, who are you again?

What happens when Summer hits? Most good shows come to an end. We have a few shows we DVR and watch and now they're all done. So what are we forced to do? Converse with each other. He's okay company most of the time, when he's not acting like a fool, trying to embarrass me or sleeping. Having a conversation can be fun at time. 


Ah, I'm only kidding. It was nice not having the T.V on and just hanging out. We sat outside after we put the boys to bed, watered the lawn and just talked. We talk, but it normally comes down to;


Him: "Little man smells rank."
Me: "Nice, I got the last one. This one's yours."
Him: "No, yours."
Me: "Um, no, like I said I got the last one."
Him: "So? You're closer!"


Then it becomes a fun little game who can get Dane to the other. Don't worry, we don't always treat our kid like this, promise! Sometimes you just don't want to do the dirty work. I normally win the fight and he'll change the as he calls it 'rank' diaper. 


Last night was nice. Sitting on the porch, talking. There was a woodpecker going at it in the woods across from our house. It became slightly annoying after awhile. We just talked about life, things going on with us and joked around. I love days like that. Where modern conveniences are left inside and all thats there is you, him and the wind.


Jason went to go move the sprinkler and I went to see what the sunset looked like. It was absolutely beautiful! One thing I love about where we live is the open field to the beautiful sky view. So of course I went in and grabbed my camera. The sky was a deep beautiful red with just a slight tint of pink. 


It was a nice night just the two of us. We sat outside for awhile after then sun had set and then eventually being bugged by the mosquitos went in. I love nights like that. Just the two of us, relaxing, talking and enjoying the peace and quiet.