TWO YEARS OLD!!

That's right. Believe it or not, Miss Siena Grace is TWO years old. And what a two years it has been. It's hard to even begin to process all that has happened since her last birthday, let alone her 2 years of life on this earth. Life-changing doesn't begin to describe her. There is not someone that brings us more joy and more laughter. There is not someone who is more demanding of our time and energy. There is not someone that we love more on this earth. Siena is a celebration of life.

This year, for Siena's birthday, we toned it way down (as most parents do after they realize the production that goes into a first birthday party). :) Siena loves to swim and be in water. So why not celebrate her in a place she loves - Grandma and Grandpa's pool. The weekend before Siena's birthday was a good time for everyone. With football starting the week of Siena's big day, we wanted to make sure we got a good party in before the busyness really kicked in!! We invited family and a few of Siena's friends (and ours) to swim and play outside. We decided to do simple food - sandwiches, chips and salsa and guac, fruit, salad, frozen yogurt, and drinks. Other than that, there wasn't much of an agenda. We all swam, played on the slip-n-slide, played with bubbles, chatted on the porch, and just spent the day together. We are so thankful for such wonderful family and friends to surround Siena with love. She is one lucky girl!!

A very happy birthday girl, pin and all!

Daddy and his birthday girl - in their favorite spot! (The reason for the "fog" in the picture - it's so blasting hot in Missouri, going from inside to outside is too much of a shock for a camera and it completely fogged up...for quite a while! Wasn't going to wait for it - wanted to capture some moments!!)

The bubble-blowing station...

"Running" down the slip-n-slide...

...and back for round 2.

A very excited little girl, waiting to blow out the candles! Might have been one of her favorite parts of the day. For days after her party, she kept talking about "...more candles on my birthday cake?!"

All of Siena's little friends who joined the party. Bryce, Erick, Laney, and Brady! What sweet, sweet kids! (Bella and Benjamin were there too, we just took the picture too late!)
Inside to open a few presents from the family...I think Auntie Em's more excited about the gift than Siena! :)

A happy day for us!!
An extra bonus to the birthday party? Auntie Em! Em was in town for a wedding reception, so it was perfect timing! She made the party complete. Siena sure does love her Auntie Em! Those two have lots in store for the future...

Oh, and then the cake. We made it tradition last year (ha - tradition...after just a year!) to make Siena's cake each year. Last year, that cake about got the best of us. This year, we again decided to ease up just a little bit. We made a fun swimming pool cake that (we thought) turned out pretty cute! We used teddy grahams as people in the pool and little candies for the toys. It was pretty painless and we got it finished during Siena's nap the day before. :)

The party was a success! Siena had such a great time with her family and friends around her! She loved splashing around in the pool, loved blowing out the candles, loved running down the slip-n-slide (and you can just imagine how that turned out!), and loved being the center of attention. After everyone left and she opened a couple gifts, she was worn out! A good, long nap after a birthday party - sounds like a success to me!!

And then Siena's special day, August 10. Even though we had Siena's birthday party, we still had to celebrate her actual special day! Matt had football for the morning and I actually had to work too. When I woke up Siena in the morning, she right away talked about her birthday cake! She was one excited little girl! She got to spend a few hours with her buddies, "Byce and Brady Boy." I think she loved that gift!!

After Daddy got home from football, we headed straight for the zoo! We have never been to the KC Zoo, so it was high time! What kid doesn't love to look at all the animals?! Her favorite was Nakita, the polar bear. She kept saying she wanted to get in the polar bear water and swim with him. Needless to say, we distracted her from that and moved on to the other animals. It was a pretty hot day but we were able to walk all around and see the animals we really wanted to see. Some of the highlights: the rhinos, giraffes, gorillas, lions, and elephants. On the way out, Siena got to pick out a little animal of her choice. After going through a few contenders, the "red-tailed panda" won out? We certainly didn't see that animal (and still aren't convinced that there is such a thing) but that was her choice. She named him Poomba. (Can you guess what movie she had seen shortly before that?)

Siena checking out the monkeys...

Trying to feed the turtle that popped his head up to say hi.

After the zoo, we went to Spin Pizza for yummy pizza and salads. That MAY have been a decision made my us that Siena just happened to like. I suppose when they can't pick their own place yet, might as well go for something WE like! Speaking of which, we topped that off with Orange Leaf frozen yogurt...my absolute favorite these days. And that is not just me. The very first time the 3 of us went, Siena inhaled all of my yogurt and was licking the inside of the cup with her face. That was our indication that she liked it too...so we thought that would be a fun treat to end the night.

And then, just to add icing to the cake, we stopped by the pet store. Siena got a pet fish. The story starts a little earlier than her birthday, but I'll cover that in another post - this one is all about her birthday. She got to pick out the fish and the home for him. I'm proud to say we have a red and blue Beta fish named...Connie. Yep, Connie. No idea where that name came from. Siena doesn't know anyone named Connie (well enough to want to name a fish after her), I don't think she has seen anything on TV with that name...your guess is as good as mine. I laughed out loud when she said it. And we stuck with it. Siena is very happy with Connie. We have to work on the air hugs and blowing the fish kisses. She feeds her and watches over her. Connie lives in Siena's room and they are the perfect roommates.

Trying to give Connie kisses...bless her little heart.

What a wonderful day to celebrate a wonderful girl. She sure is something special. I can't imagine our life without her. She is the joy in our days and the best part of our life together. We are blessed to be her parents and God has given us a gift that we treasure dearly. Siena Grace, you are a beautiful girl! Momma and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know! God is so very good and what a special miracle you are. Happy Birthday, little love.

Smitten with the Mitten

What can I say, I LOVE Michigan summers. There's just something about being up there during the summer that just feels right. And this go-around was a little present wrapped up in a beautiful bow...

As usual, Matt has a few windows of time off in the summer, so we love to make a trip up to Michigan when we can. It just so happened that both my mom and dad were Up North in different areas during our time up there, so it was a TRUE vacation...away from GR. And it was just magical.

We drove to Michigan, got some overnight rest in GR (and picked up Em), and then drove to the Upper Peninsula to stay with Pappa and Joyce in a little slice of heaven. Joyce's brother graciously allowed us to vacation in his little cottage on a peninsula in Lake Huron. It's uninhabited, peaceful, and simply gorgeous. A vacation doesn't get much better than relaxing with the family, surrounded by God's goodness to the fullest.

When we first walked in to the cottage, I had a moment. A moment similar to when I found my wedding dress. Strange as it sounds, when I walked into that place, I instantly felt, "This is it." There was something about that house that I instantly fell in love with. I wanted to have that home for myself to live in for the rest of my life. It wasn't super fancy or big or extraordinary. But it was everything I ever wanted in a house. Clean lines, warm, simple, not too big, open, and just screaming for people to be in it. Do you ever have that feeling in a house? Like it's just meant to entertain and have people in it all the time? I truly feel that's what God calls our family to do - to have coaches, players, teammates, friends, co-workers, and kids over as much as possible. When I stepped into that house, I had that moment. I'm over it now (kinda), but I sure did love that little place...

Moving on (excuse the random bunny trail)...I am not sure I can quite describe our 4 days together better than pictures will show. We sat on the deck overlooking the lake, sailed, read books, drew pictures, stayed up late playing dominoes, cooked, drank great wine (and even better gin and tonics), listened to great music, paddled in a"Looney", and best of all, had great conversation. I think those are just about all the ingredients for an AMAZING getaway.

Before I show pictures, I will share one "not so wonderful moment" (the only one) from that getaway. While we were playing dominoes late one night, all of a sudden, the power went out. Now, in a regular neighborhood, you find a flashlight or candle, figure out what's going on, and continue on. On an island where hardly anyone lives, there are NO lights anywhere, the only way you can get off the island is by boat, and you can't see a thing...different story. I was spooked out of my mind. Really. Your mind does very mean and terrible things to you when you're in a situation like that. Come to find out (after we called around), the electrical company was doing a planned power outage on the island from 12:00am - 4:00am. Two things I have to say about that: One - I did not know about that "planned outage". Two - Really?????? Needless to say, I hardly slept at all that night, I pulled Siena in bed with me and held her tight (and Matt too), and I watched the clock till they put that stupid power back on...all the while, listening to every creek in the house.

Now, to get back to the wonderful moments we had together, here are the pictures. I'll never forget that time together. It was one for the books.

Siena's face, while driving over the Mackinaw Bridge! With the windows down, the music blaring, and the excitement in the air...we are all pretty giddy! :)

Yep, here's the house. In all its glory. Isn't she a beaut?

Opa and Siena...having deep conversations about who knows what. I guess that's between an Opa and his 'meije'.

The girls, sitting on the deck overlooking the lake...relaxing!

Watching Pappa and Matt "sail away, sail away, sail away..."

A sweet conversation between Matt...
...and his little sweetheart.
Siena with her favorite Oma in the world. Boy, did they have fun together. Between cookies made from play dough, walks around the yard, playing with the fake animals in the yard, reading books, playing with Karen (the Barbie doll), and making food together...they were 2 happy campers!! (Momma was too - she got a break!)
Oh, the times I spend with my sister. Love her. (Ps. I hope you notice who is doing the work and who is basking in the sun...that's the way it should be as the oldest, right?!)
An afternoon behind a camera lens never hurt anyone...we just wanted to capture "the moments"...yeah, that's it...
Great minds think alike - blame it on being sisters...
Love this pic.
A hike through the woods to the other side of the peninsula...Lake Huron.

This is a funny series of photos. And no, it doesn't end with us flinging her into the water, although the pictures may appear that way. :)


Momma and the love of her life (aside from my wonderful husband, who I'm sure is reading this too...)

And then to think that we were only HALF done with the vacation! Could it get any better? Oh yes, it could. And it did. After spending 4 glorious days in the UP with Pappa and Joyce, it was time to travel to the other side - or more like down, around, and up again - of Michigan to spend the rest of the vacation with my mom. Camping, here we come!
It was a special time of the year to be up there. It seemed as if just about everyone was there. Lots of family came up camping, friends from years ago and camping when we were little were there...and we got to be a part of it all. Amazing. It was a different kind of vacation than the previous 4 days. There were so many wonderful things to DO on this half. We went wine tasting (which tastes wonderful EVERY time), tubing, skiing, jet skiing, swimming, we played pickle ball (a wonderful cross between tennis, batmitten, and ping pong - fun and worth a try), basketball and cards, had a BYOB adult hayride (they don't call me "triple fister" for nothing!) , Santa came to town for Christmas in July, we celebrated 3 birthdays...I'm sure there were other things that kept us busy, but it was so fun it's hard to remember it all!
Again, the pictures are going to have to do most of the talking. Some parts are just too good for words.

We had so much fun outdoors! The weather was amazing - sunny and warm (not blistering hot like it was in MO at the time). Kari and Siena went for a kayak ride...on land. :)
Siena's 3 princes made her a princess castle in the sand. She loved the "pool" in the middle and the banner that said "Princess Siena" (what girl wouldn't?!)

Both Matt and I took Siena out for tubing ride. She really liked bumping up and down behind the jetski. I guess anything in water, really........

Another one of those beautiful summer sunsets in Northern Michigan. I think God was showing off on this one. Beautiful.
The campground has games and hayrides for the kids each night. Daddy was the lucky one that was chosen to go on the hayride. Not sure who had more fun...

An intense game of basketball, as usual. Aside from the asthma attack, it was a great game! We won, of course.

Santa took time out of his busy schedule to visit the kids. All the kids who sat on his lap got to pick a little treat off the table. Let's just say this: Siena didn't get a treat... :)
...instead, she made Christmas cookies. With pink frosting, of course. What kid isn't happy with cookies and frosting at their disposal?


An extra special treat this year was celebrating Siena's 2nd birthday up north. Kate and Kai also had birthdays around the same time, so we all made it a big party! So fun! Thanks for Grammie for putting the shindig on - the kids (and all the rest of us, too) had a wonderful time! And, as you can see, Siena had NO problem celebrating her birthday a little early.

All the kids out front for the annual kid photo. It really is amazing that we can get them all in one picture.
It's never fun leaving at the end of a vacation. But there were no complaints from us. We were so fortunate to spend time with family. It was one of those weeks that help get you through the days that aren't as fun. We have great jobs that allow us to do this - and we are so grateful! To everyone who helped make it happen, we love you for always.