licensed to heal

It's taken a lot of hours of study during his meager free time but it is finally over.
This weekend Keith finished his two-day medical board licensing test - Horray!
Not that he hasn't been cutting people open all year. This just means he is not an intern anymore but an R2 (no relation to R2D2).

Of course it's not the end of grueling mind bending tests. Just the end of this one.
Congratulations Keith :)

By-the-way: father's day

It's a little over due but I thought I'd show dakota's gift for daddy. (besides the hand decorated tie that I don't have a picture of yet). Since Mommy got flowers and a card for Mother's day, it seemed natural for Dad to get the same. But men have their own sort of "taste" in flowers.

Here are the boys relaxing to a nice Thomas the Train episode.
(as told by Ringo Star)

Of course every boy wants to be just like his dad. Even wearing their clothes sometimes.

Love you dad, from the bottom of my, well you know...

FYI

Due to a series of major budget cutbacks, we have disconnected our home phone and are only using our cells now. These numbers are currently the same but will soon be changed to a local Michigan number. When that happens I will try to send out a message to everyone on our directory.

Just thought you should know in case you try to call :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADS....This one is for you!!!!

What should I title this?

It's funny,

everybody seems to want me to have a girl this time around. Or they assume that must be what I want since I already have a boy. In fact, before ever becoming a mother, I always said that if I were to have only one child then i would prefer a girl. So having that girl first should take any pressure off right.

But then I had my little Dakota Jack.
My heart is filled with all his boyish love. I am happier with him then I ever thought possible and would be perfectly satisfied with only him.
Of course now another is on it's way and so they hope I'll get that girl. The things is, I don't feel so stuck on it anymore. In fact, I kinda sometimes maybe prefer the idea of two brothers playing around doing the little guy thing. Boys do tend to love their mothers more.
Then again, I like dresses and flowers and am keen to paint a room pink.

I tried to look deep inside my true desires and what surprised me the most about myself is that I actually did not mind either way what came next. I am totally and completely content with enjoying whatever God sends us. Funny that.

A few short videos from our camping trip

Mowing the lawn just like Dad

always stop to smell the flowers!

MOOMERS: America's Best ice cream!

My fabulous producer friend Tamara sent me a little email letting me know that her show profiled a little place in Traverse, MI that was recently voted as having the best Ice Cream in the country! Moomers. Thanks for the great tip. (anyone who knows me at all, knows about my dire weakness for the cold creamy treat)
So, we decided to make a stop there as a special highlight to our trip.

Inside and excited to try it out

Yummylisous!
I was actually most impressed by their waffle cones. the whole place was filled with it's sweet warm smell.

Speaking of smells, 'Kota couldn't get enough of the lovely fresh flowers on the tables

And outside we could see where it all started

This stuff was as fresh as it gets.

As you can see by the videos, it didn't take long for the sugar effect to kick in.

We are still on vacation right now

Since we couldn't afford to go far or do much this time, we decided on a nice short but sweet camping trip. Just to try it out and see how it works with Dakota 'n all.
Though everything is more of a production with baby, it was definitely a success. Now we are home to a big giant mess and multi house projects in the works. Why do we always seem to need a vacation from our vacations?

Fun in th Rain!

I haven't gotten around to learning how to edit my videos yet (it's on my never-ending list of things to do) so it may be a little long. I like the beginning best anyway. He's always been good at saying "WOW"

A quick spin

I have a secret!

I have an old dear friend named Aimee Allen.
She used to take me with her on family trips to Canada when we were teenagers and I remember her just being the coolest most fun soul sister ever! Eventually we went in different directions and somehow lost contact with each other. Then one day I saw her dad's add for a reaI estate seminar and decided to go hoping that I could find someone to put me in contact with her. That didn't work. Every once in a while I would search the internet but not find anything.
But guess what? Just now, out of the blue, Her awesome mother Daryl called me!!!! I could tell right away that it was her and we bubbled out all the info possible through excited breath.
Now my friend Aimee; or actually the new spelling would be Amae, is getting married and I might just get flown there to surprise her!!!!!!! AAAhhh WoW.
There are however a few unknowns since it will be in October and another trip is already in the works, but this is sooooooo exciting for me. Oh boy, I will be pretty pregnant by then....... :(
Well who cares. Yippee. This girl is super funky cool hip and one of the best singers I've ever known. I always knew she'd make a career with her talent. Please check her out!

Welcome to our new family blog!

Well, it's actually my old blog but with a new address, new name & new look.
It is now officially dedicated to all our family updates & fun stuff like that.
It will also remain public (for now) so that certain people can easily see it.

You may have noticed the floating widget to the side. Yes, it's true. We are having another baby! I did not intend on announcing anything so soon but it seems that moments after telling Keith that news had leaked. So there it is.

We hope you enjoy our little posts and the new format. Please comment if you stop by. In spirit of our bigs news I've included a little ducky fun from our recent day out. (not for kids or those easily offended)

Under construction

working on new layout

Brother-Sister date at the movies

My brother Roderick has been living with us for the last few months and is leaving today to marry his sweetheart in the Netherlands. So before he is gone for good we wanted to get one last outing together and for the first time, daddy was home alone with the kid.

Such friendliness
(in a Borat accent) I love America, is nice....
Who doesn't dream of being Eddy Murphy's bugger?
As for us, we came prepared with an arsenal of treats

What a great time! now shhhhhhhh.....

Mud, we meet again.

This is kind of long but if you get to the end you'll see him eat dirt.
I know, super exciting for all....

Growing Up All Boy

Snackin on mommy's apple in the car - He had to have the whole thing!


He loves the acoustics of a good beaver dam - who doesnt. (what's she lookin at anyway)


Though you can't see them, a little girl accidentally gets sand on another and is scolded by her mom in the background. They girl says she is sorry and then says, "will you forgive me?".
It was so cute.


Bouncy Pouncy Flouncy, fun fun fun fun fun



Pardon me, coming through, excuse me....

Now that I notice it, he was actually drinking it - yuck!


and then a quick shimmy


What fun!