fun may

"Fun May" is a saying that my old college roommie and I came up with a hundred years ago when we had an exceptionally fun time in May (it may have had something to do with just having graduated, we took several road trips, and had limited responsibilities in our life). At any rate we still have Fun May (and june, july, august, you get the picture) around here. Garrett and Cindy went on a field trip with his school to a farm and got to do all sorts of neat stuff. We decided to try out Thomas the Train at Greenfield Village, which sounded like a good idea. The weather was cold, raining sidways, Ezra was on his 80th ear infection of the season (coming next month: TUBES!!), and we were all a little cranky. But aside from that they seemed to enjoy themselves! We hit the Detroit Zoo for the first time with friends, celebrated Cindy's 35th, and at the very end of the month Cindy took on the project of tearing up our front yard, installing a sprinkler system, and laying new sod. With the help of two of her friends, our handy neighbor Hal, and two shorty helpers (pictured below) we turned out with an awesome front yard, a cool sprinkler system, and a crazy high water bill for those first two months!

bare chested brothers doing the farm chores

round and round

cold, wet, & thomas the train

happy 35th birthday mama!

detroit zoo

working hard/hardly working

ezra doing his share

april: visitors, nice weather, & easter

April brought us a weekend visit from Aunt Heiney, Aunt Deena, and Baby Nowen, the start of warm days, and Easter fun.

sarah, ezra, & owen
the old roomies, owen, & garrett

tiger fan

garrett's one wheel bike

tessa's easter party

coloring eggs by candle light, a tradition started thanks to a power outage in 2010.

easter egg hunt at great grams

coloring

ez and his loot at the easter party

march-ing on

Some highlights from March.....
playing at jungle java with tessa

garrett and the possible future producer of our milk at calder's farm

mom and ezra at calder's farm (taken by g)

yumski

ezra turns one!

We are trying to return from the land of the long lost bloggers.....and catch up 10+ months of pictures. Starting with February which was Ezra's first birthday!! He started walking in January at 11 months and was in constant motion by the time his birthday came! His actual birthday was nasty snowy day so I took the day off and stayed home with my boys!!! We had a great birthday party for him with family a few days (and a lot of snow) later.

pancakes for breakfast on ez's birthday
once the driveway was plowed it was scooter time!

ezra's cake from gerryFirst bite of cake - ever!decorations party cake (by mama)

birthday boy

the fam

happy birthday ez!

digging in

ezra and mama

ezra and gramps

ezra and great grams

Christmas & New Years

We had another great Christmas in 2010, our first one as a family of four! Garrett really "got" the whole Santa thing this year, which made things really fun. We got to see Santa in early December and both boys sat on his lap without any major meltdowns (a first for Garrett!). We put on our tree (with fewer and non-breakable ornaments), listened to Christmas music throughout the month, and talked about Santa. At school during Santa's visit Garrett told him that he wanted "cooking stuff" and that Ezra wanted a fire truck.

We spent Christmas Eve at Oma and Opa's house and had a great time. We spread the "reindeer dust" in the front yard when we got home that night and hoped that Santa would come. Garrett work up around 8:00 (after both moms were waiting patiently for him to wake up), came upstairs and said in the most geniune, innocent voice "Merry Christmas Mom, Merry Christmas Mama, Merry Christmas Ezra!". I just about started crying right there! He was concerned that Santa did not come, so we hurried downstairs turned the lights on, and sure enough - he came! It was a great Christmas day that we spent at home together all day long. Santa brought the boys a duplo lego table that doubles as a car table, which they both loved. Garrett also got some playdough (which was a big hit), and Ezra a variety of cars. We ate Christmas Dinner at our favorite neighbor Hal's house and it was delightful! We spent the day after Christmas at Grams/Great Grams house with the Crane family.

We rang in the New Year at a party with friends. Well actually we rang it in at 8:00pm, and then went home to bed! Later in teh weekend we went to another party (a bowling party) with more friends. Garrett has become quite the bowler and loves to be around his friends!

Ezra has just about beat his runny nose after a week of dealing with a cold. Since he took his first steps back in November, he has been doing more and more walking. He's not quite a full time walker, but certainly he is a "part time walker". He has developed quite the sense of humor and loves to make everyone laugh, and he loves to pretend to take naps by putting his head down wherever he is. He has been enjoying pushing his brother around in his fire truck around the house (with surprisingly good ability to stear around the corners).

Santa did come!
Brothers on Christmas morning

The family 2010

New hats!

Helping Ezra open his present

New bathrobe

Christmas at Grama Donna's

Playing with Oma and Kennedy

Playing at Oma and Opa's house

pretending to take a nap in Zoe's bed

Bowling party with friends on Sunday

December 2010

Keeping up with tradition, we made a "cookie house" in December. This year was a little less tricky than last year, as we didn't have to make too many repairs to the structure before the decorating began. Garrett was really into it this year, no surprise as much as he loves anything cooking or art related! (the candy factor didn't hurt either).

The finished product.


Garrett and Mama went on a "football date" in December to see his first Lion's game at Ford Field. Garrett was super pumped about going to the game, had a fun time watching the Lions play, and of course the popcorn was a highlight for him too. He only last until the second quarter, but hey, he's only three. Unfortunately this was a game that the Lions actually won and they didn't get to see the victory in person!

"go blue team!"

Garrett in front of Comerica Park and the Tiger in his Carhart after the football game as the snow was really starting to come down.

Chef Garrett making cookies with Mama, another favorite family tradition.

Showing off his big smile and teeth - there are five now!