Charlevoix the Beautiful

We were fortunate to be able to take two great family vacations in 2016.  At the end of June, we headed north to Charlevoix, Michigan.  It's a beautiful town in northern Michigan - on Lake Michigan and also boasting two inland lakes, Round Lake and Lake Charlevoix.  We rented a perfect little house with Greg's parents just steps from Lake Michigan and a short walk into town.  The setting was idyllic and so relaxing.  We didn't want to leave and can't wait to go back.  Here are some of the highlights of our vacation. watching the drawbridge go up and down to let the Emerald Isle, a large ferry to Beaver Island, pass driving up to Harbor Springs to walk around the picturesque town and admire the yachts, stopping at Pond Hill Farm on the way up and then stopping in Petoskey on the way home for a picnic at lovely Bayfront Park renting a pontoon and spending part of a day out on Lake Charlevoix.  It was very relaxing and fun to see the big houses along the lake.  Davis and Greg got into the water at one point and promptly got out - brrrr! walking to Lake Michigan beach to play in the sand and on the playground on the beach walking down to the lighthouse and watching the sun set strolling into town and enjoying some ice cream - Davis' favorite kind is blue moon going to a concert at East Park, a great community area right between downtown and Round Lake.  The boys were doing some crazy dancing, to the amusement of some onlookers. playing at the beach and picnicking at Ferry Park on Lake Charlevoix, the perfect place for the boys to play because the water was shallow and warmer and there is a great sandy beach.  Davis loved being able to go way out in the water to play, and Adam had the best time playing with the sand toys.  It was a great family memory. quiet times in our beautiful cottage, and of course making s'mores in the firepit crossing the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix on the Ironton Ferry Davis loved mini-golfing with Daddy and Grandpa in Petoskey! walking past the Mushroom Houses (aka Hobbit Houses) of Charlevoix, just up the street and around the corner from our cottage, and walking to the awesome public library and spending time playing in their amazing children's section on a cold and windy day On our last night, we were privileged to attend a community celebration at East Park held (by his request) in lieu of a public funeral for Dale Boss, known as "Mr. Petunia," a larger-than-life community leader in Charlevoix.  There was musical entertainment by his talented family members and a generous ice cream and dessert social.  I can't quite explain it, but it was a real slice of Americana and a memory we will hold in our hearts forever. It is hard to imagine a more perfect family vacation destination. Charlevoix has not seen the last of the Mueller family!

Birthday Boys

This past spring, Davis turned 5 and Adam turned 2. Davis' Spiderman birthday included a playdate with his friends at The Well Community Center.  Even though it was an open play time, we ended up having the place all to ourselves, so it turned out to be a really special and fun time to play and celebrate. Adam was so excited about the construction trucks on his birthday cake, and unlike Davis on his second birthday, Adam knew exactly what to do with the candles.  He blew them out before we even had a chance to get a few bars into singing Happy Birthday! It is such a great joy and gift to watch our sons grow!

Groundhog Promises

The groundhog said that spring is coming, and as we move into March, I hope he's right, because I know two little boys who are growing restless with so much time indoors and one mommy who would love to be able to consistently let them run their energy out in the great outdoors! It's a good thing there are a few holidays to break up the monotony of winter, and of course we have been blessed with some pretty mild weather overall, which has also helped, although Davis mourns the lack of snow to play in and build a snowman.  We went to Springfield, MO to celebrate Thanksgiving with Greg's side of the family, and Davis and Adam had an awesome time hanging out with their cousins, including watching Uncle Jeff shoot off a rocket he built and playing some "soccer" at the nearby park on Thanksgiving day, and celebrating an early Christmas.  We also did an early Christmas at our home with my side of the family, and enjoyed a quiet Christmas day at home.  Adam's attempts to open his own gifts were often thwarted by his overly-helpful brother, and the highlight for both boys was probably playing with the cool "robo dog" that Davis opened. Davis was ever so excited for Christmas this year, and I'm sure next year both boys will be little bouncing balls of excitement!  :)  Davis also enjoyed celebrating Valentine's Day at preschool this year and is looking forward to celebrating his 5th birthday later this month! Davis is learning to read.  His preschool progress report from the fall noted that he already knew all his letter sounds, and in the last few months he has had increased interest in using this knowledge to sound out words and is picking up sight words.  I picked him up from preschool recently and his teacher Miss LoriLee said, "Davis was reading words to us today!"  She was pretty impressed by him and said that he will be reading in no time.  We have started reading chapter books at home, one chapter each night before bed, and he is really enjoying it.  He can count to 100 if he has the numbers in front of him to reference so he doesn't get mixed up with his tens.  He does simple addition with the help of his fingers. We are so proud of him and how he is growing and learning.  It's hard to believe, but kindergarten registration is coming up in just a couple of months.  Kindergarten is intense these days, unfortunately, but I believe that he will be ready and will really blossom. (Also, Greg brought it to my attention that my last post completely failed to mention a very significant event of this past summer - Davis breaking his collarbone on August 1st!  It happened while running to collect candy that was dropped from an airplane.  Poor little guy!  A few days of pain and a few weeks with his arm in a sling - rather haphazardly, I must say - and he was all better, but he still occasionally talks about how he is sad because he broke his collarbone.) Adam is a demanding little toddler - "MaMAAAAAAA!" - but oh so sweet and adorable still.  He loves cuddles and does not like to share them with his big brother.  He is very affectionate and empathetic and makes little kissing noises when he wants to be picked up to be hugged and kissed.  He adores playing with Davis, playing peek-a-boo in Daddy's shirts hanging in the closet, playing "Trot Little Horsey," "Ring Around the Rosey," "This Litle Piggy," and "Itsy-bitsy Spider," looking at books and being told the names of everything in the book, eating snacks and drinking Danimals yogurt smoothies (he is totally addicted to them), wearing the same camouflage boots that Davis was obsessed with a couple of years ago even though they are way too big for him, bringing everyone their shoes when it's time to go, coloring and playing with markers, and looking at our photo albums.  Adam is still a man of few words and it makes me anxious sometimes, but his receptive language is great and he is working on his talking.  He is great with animal noises and loves to communicate non-verbally.  When I ask him to say "hot," he will instead start blowing as though he's blowing on hot food.  When he is thirsty, he has started making a gulping sound to let me know.  The child may never talk! Here are some pics of our little guys from earlier this winter.  Eventually I will get some 2016 pictures uploaded.  I can never get enough of staring at their cute little faces. :)

From Loving the Life We Live

Never Fear, We're Still Here! - A Long Overdue Update

You may be wondering if I was ever going to post on this blog again . . . I may not have much time on my hands these days, but I won't let this record of our family life fade completely into oblivion.  I have lots of things to share from the past summer and fall!

In early June, we went on a family vacation to South Haven, Michigan, with Greg's parents.  We were joined for portions of the trip by my father-in-law's cousin and by my parents and sister.  We were so lucky to be able to rent an adorable, perfect little house just a block from Lake Michigan and across the street from a large kids' park.  It had absolutely EVERYTHING and the location was perfect.  I think we all fell in love with it.  Watching our children experience a real sandy beach for the first time was delightful, and with Lake Michigan stretching in front of us as far as the eye could see, it was just as good as the ocean.  We were able to walk into town and explore the cute downtown, walk to the lighthouse to watch the sunset, and just relax and enjoy the mild, sunny weather and each other's company.  We also took some fun day trips, including a visit to the Dutch Village in Holland and delicious lunch at Deboer Bakkerij and Dutch Brothers Restaurant and a trip to see the animals at the Critter Barn in Zeeland.  Visiting Saint Joseph was a real highlight as well. We had lunch at Silver Beach Pizza in an Amtrak station and a train went right past our table during our meal (Adam was rather startled!) and enjoyed the carousel, interactive fountain, and great playground on the beach.  I think that more family vacations in Michigan are definitely in our future!

Greg's grandpa died this summer and we all went to North Carolina for the funeral and memorial service in July.  After finding some super cheap airfare, we bought tickets for all four of us and the boys had their first plane ride.  We flew to Atlanta and then rented an SUV and drove up to Asheville.  Both boys did phenomenally well on the trip and it was nice to have time to catch up with Greg's extended family.  Not long afterwards, we were able to go to Missouri and meet their new baby cousin Nora.  Just another sign that Adam isn't "the baby" anymore!

It's true - Adam is not quite a baby anymore as he is now 18 months old.  He took his first step back on May 17 when he and I were playing in the living room.  I had him stand up, reached out my arms, and he took two steps before tumbling proudly into my arms.  He picked up the pace with his walking practice during our Michigan trip, and before you know it, he was a full-time, accomplished walker (and runner!).  He is full of fun and personality; this is such a cute age!  I love one year olds!  (Don't remind me of what the next couple of years may bring!) Things Adam loves/has loved over the past months: going up and down stairs climbing up on the couch and chairs like a big kid playing with balls (he has a great throwing arm and kicks, too!) anything with wheels (toy cars, pictures of cars/trucks/tractors in books, etc.) playing outside (he will NEVER want to go inside and just wants to get out and play with every wheeled outdoor toy we own) animals (he loves dogs and cats, and loved chasing around the bunny that my sister is fostering) reading (particularly books about animals and trucks) giving people their shoes (see: constant desire to go outside and play) making shrill screaming sounds when he wants something playing hiding/peek-a-boo games pointing at things and saying "dat" (that), wanting me to say the name playing with dinosaurs and roaring . . . he thinks pretty much every animal roars setting up all his dinosaurs and farm animals so they're standing up, then moving them to a different location and doing the same thing dancing to music climbing things - including climbing structures at the park and attempting to climb into his crib roughhousing playing on the bouncy turtle or rocking horse - he does some major rocking on the rocking horse he got for his birthday, and even stands on the seat and rocks a little that way, then plops back down into the seat, thinking he's hilarious getting jealous when I hold Davis and insisting that I hold him, too - I frequently have my arms full of two little boys!  I can't say that I mind it! Like Davis at this age, he's not much of a talker yet, although he's working on it!  He's making more and more word-like sounds and making more gestures - waving, giving high fives, and laughing and waving his hand is a "stinky" gesture when I comment on his stinky diaper.  He is very good at non-verbal communication and knows how to let us know when he wants a drink, a snack (he loves to get his own applesauce pouches out of the pantry), a toy, or to go outside and play!  When asked, he will identify his tummy, belly button, head, nose, etc. Adam's 15 month stats: Weight: 28 lbs. 3 oz. - 97th %ile Length: 33.5 in. - 98th %ile Head circumference: 19 in. - 86th %ile Adam's 18 month stats: Weight: 28 lbs. 14 oz. - 94th %ile Length: 34.5 in. - 96th %ile Head circumference: 19.5 in. - 94th %ile And our big boy, Davis --- he is growing up before our eyes. Davis is a smart, curious, capable 4.5 year old with a phenomenal memory.  I am in awe of what a great big brother he is, too - it's awesome to see my boys playing together more and more now that Adam is getting older. Adam absolutely adores his big brother, too!  Davis started preschool this year at a local church two days a week and I'm proud of how well he's doing. I can already see his tripod grip is beginning to improve and he's starting to show more interest in drawing and coloring.  Like a typical boy, he unfortunately doesn't tell me much about the things I'd like to hear about what he did at preschool, but he likes it when they have snacks and recess and always tells me which kid(s) "got on yellow" (e.g. got in trouble) each day. Haha - sigh.  He has also started the children's choir at church and I was astonished and proud to see how well he did during their first performance.  He is so inquisitive and asks some great questions and makes pretty insightful observations. Recent gems include "Can we see when we die?" and "Is the Easter bunny real or just a fake bunny?"  He is also a great age for saying totally adorable things, such as thinking that the word for "mittens" is "hand muffins."  I tell him that they're mittens, but secretly I wish he would keep calling them hand muffins forever! He loves to play games, including Uno, which is really fun because it's something we can enjoy as a family that's not just a "kid game."  His preschool class recently drew family pictures and had the teacher scribe something that their family enjoys doing together.  His response: "We love to play Uno game together.  We put down numbers and cards."  He added heart stickers onto each of our chests on the picture because he loves us.  And also spider stickers (?). We took advantage of the mild weather in the late summer to enjoy more family activities.  We went to a really cool hot air balloon glow and just enjoyed a perfect Sunday night cookout with our adult Sunday school class and our cumulative 14 children.  I just have to say how much I LOVE watching those kids play together, remembering when I started the class back when we were all young couples without children yet, and now our kids (12 of the 14 there being boys!) have a blast playing together. Heading into fall, we continued loving the life we live - a field trip to the apple orchard with Davis' preschool class, a trip to St. Louis that included visiting good friends and enjoying the St. Louis Zoo, a community parade and festival, and of course trick or treating. Davis was an adorable pirate this year and Adam was Dumbo the Cutest Elephant in the World. I took the boys trick-or-treating at two local nursing homes, which I hope the residents enjoyed and was also good exposure to the elderly for my boys.  The weather surprisingly cooperated on Halloween night...until it started raining on us!  But not until we had done some good trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  We finally called it a night when the rain picked up and I noted that Adam's fur was getting wet.  :)

Now Thanksgiving and Christmas are fast approaching already.  How time flies!  As they say, when you have young children, the days are long (sometimes sooooo long) but the years are short!  We try to soak up the good moments and enjoy these days together.

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Family Photos 2015

As you can tell from the updated blog header, which FINALLY reflects Adam as a member of our family, we had family pictures taken in late May.  Although our children were not entirely cooperative in their facial expressions, we did get some great pictures to treasure. Credit @Lissa Smith Photos   LOVE this family!!

From Loving the Life We Live