The rest of the story

The rest of our Memorial Day Weekend was spent in pure bliss

at my parent's house in St Clair Shores.

Elijah slept in

My mom made luxurious Belgian waffles for breakfast

I got a tan laying out at 10:00am

Took Elijah to the Memorial Day parade

Drank homemade strawberry-lemonade

Followed by made from scratch margaritas

Devoured Art's yummo chicken and steak fajitas

With his homemade guacamole

Ended the night with a campfire + reese's peanut butter s'mores

Would only have been better if Shannon & Suzanne could have joined us. =(

The kids love having grandma + grandpa around!

I thought mom's face was funny in this picture (above), it looks like she just spotted something very large, scary and most likely dangerous.

But I have no idea what was actually happening there.

Oh, this is Elijah's cousin, Isla [pronounced EE-SLA, like 'island' in Spanish. cool!]

- doesn't she have the MOST beautiful blue eyes?!

A toast!

To warm weather, long weekends, and having family together.

Dad chillin' on their gorgeous new deck. Railings coming soon...

Mom made these sneaky red-white-and-blue cupcakes.

Nin sat back and looked like her beautiful little self.

Jason visited and continued recovering from back surgery.

Art put mom & dad's charcoal grill together... then he grilled on it.

And we all ate, drank and were merry.

Mom and I took Elijah down the road to catch the end of the parade.

He clapped and clapped and clapped.

And kept taking his hat off.

Grandma & Grandpa. Love you guys.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack...

Grandma and Grandpa B took Elijah to his first Tiger's Game over Memorial Day weekend.

He loved it.

He loved being in the sunshine.

He loved the french fries.

He loved Grandma's Diet Coke.

But most of all, he loved the tigers.

Not the actual baseball-playing-Tigers, but the orange-and-white striped mammals prowling the stadium. Lurking on high places, like the tops of stadium scoreboards. Taunting little boys, because they are so high and so far away their mommies will never be able to get them down.

But, we found something even better.

The Carousel at Tiger Stadium. Elijah approves.

Lots of lights, too!

Ok, gimme your best tiger impression...

(Do you notice ALL the animals are tigers? Serious fun here.)

I posted this one because it's a good shot of my new hair.

So you can all see what it looks like now.

If there is anyone actually reading this...

My little tiger.

Friday Night Fireworks

...all of which, Elijah slept through.

And this was all just on Friday. No wonder he is a tired boy. Ironically, since Friday, Elijah has only taken one nap a day. Some other mother please tell me this is just a phase.

[...more photos to come soon of the rest of our merry weekend.]

Sum, Sum, Summer-Tiiiime!!!

Summer is here and we could not be happier! If you say the word "outside" within earshot of Elijah, he'll throw a fit until he gets there.

And if he sees the bottle of sunscreen lying around, he'll bring it to you as his way of asking, "Pleeeeeease can we go out again??"

I set up the little pool for everyone to play in, and the dogs were quick to get a fresh drink. I could not help but laugh as I watched Elijah take it all in. He watched Lonestar carefully and then had to try for himself. And I think Lonestar is a little confused for her part.

Elijah playing, practicing his throwing skills

Having fun in the lush grass, picking up stones, crawling on mama

Still Riding

Two weekends ago, mom was in town for - well, I can't remember what for, now. And I think it may have been 3 weekends ago. Oh! Probably mother's day =) Lots of other family was in, too - but I failed miserably in capturing the weekend in any thorough manner.

Aunt Judy, Uncle Ron, Nate, Grandpa & Pat - it was great to see you! Come any time and next time remind me to take pictures of Elijah playing with all of you!

This was the beginning of Elijah's marathon-double-ear-infection, and the only thing he is happy doing is riding his bike. Grandma was, to Elijah's dismay, trying to get in on the action.

Ok, your turn buddy. I'll even let you wear my shades, says Grandma.

I would add some other pictures, but they are all of Elijah riding his bike. We did take a little jaunt to Chicago, but it was cold and rainy and I only snapped 2 pictures the entire time. And, after a 2nd doctor's visit yesterday, I found out Elijah is still not over his double ear infection. Hopefully we'll nurse him back to health soon and he'll be his happy, smiley, photo-ready little self in no time.

Thanks, Mom

For all you've given, for all your love;

For endless nights and thankless days;

For everything I'll never know you've done.

Love you, mom!

~ ~ ~

It's quite clear that Elijah loves my mom just as much as I do.

He did NOT want to say good-bye to her today....

These pics are from a visit a few weeks ago.

Elijah was having fun playing with Grandma's earring

and touching her eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

Butterflies!

Over the weekend, we visited the Butterfly Exhibit at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. Each week, they release brand new butterflies into the conservatory area, and patrons like us can walk around trying to see the little bugs and snap colorful, beautiful pictures in the split second they actually land on something. Kids were out in full force on Saturday, and I think everyone was sporting what I guarantee will be their Easter outfits in 8 more days. Elijah really enjoyed looking at all the people, flowers, leaves, trees, pictures... and of course, butterflies.

Ducking under some tickly leaves

Butterflies playing

Snacking before the big exhibit.

He has been chomping quite enthusiastically lately.