Walker

Briggs is officially an up-on-his-feet, no-longer-crawling, full-time, all-the-time walker now.  And I, for one, am happy.  (I'm sure his knees are too.)

Look out world...here I come!

Adelie Vacation Quotes

On Thursday morning we went out to breakfast and then took the kids to a movies.  As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, I told Adelie, "I want you to go to the bathroom at the restaurant before we go to the movie.  And if you cry or throw a fit about it, you will not get to go to the movie."  Contemplating this, Adelie asked, "Can I whine?"

#justcoveringthebases
#cantitbeneither

My dad gave each of the grandkids a small bag of saltwater taffy as a treat to eat on the drive home from Pentwater.  He gave it to them on Friday night.  When the girls woke up on Saturday morning, I reminded them, "We are going to get dressed, have breakfast, and then we'll drive home."  Adelie sat straight up in bed and said, "You know what that means."  I  replied, "What does that mean?"  She threw her arms in the air and said, "It's water taffy time!!"

#priorities
#roadtripfun

One of the days on the beach, my cousin, Emily, was giving a few of the kids a little swimming lesson.  She was showing them how to be alligators in the water.  As they were practicing being alligators, Adelie said to Emily, "Alligators go potty in the water, right?"  Emily responded, "Yes they do.  Is that what you are planning to do?"  To which Adelie replied, "I'm going right now."  *sigh*

#3yearoldhonesty
#bewareofthewarmwater

Pentwater

We just returned from another fabulous week in Pentwater.  Just like every year since I was a child, we enjoyed a relaxing week of hanging out on the beach, enjoying the company of family, and keeping up the yearly traditions like spaghetti night, s'mores night, breakfast at the Old Hamlin, and walking into town for ice cream.  This year, we had beautiful weather and many perfect beach days.  We took advantage of our one rainy morning to take the kids to see "Finding Dory" at the movie theater, but otherwise spent most of our days just relaxing and playing on the beach.

We're now 3 for 3.  All three of our kids love the beach.  Briggs enjoyed playing in the sand, letting the waves wash over his feet, and eating snacks every chance he got.

Our little mermaid, Adelie, was our biggest beach kid of all.  She never wanted to leave the beach.  She enjoyed getting buried in the sand, especially when we turned her legs into a mermaid tail of sand, but spent most of her time in the water.

Staley split her time between practicing her underwater swimming and playing with her beach cousins and Grammie.  She loved playing restaurant, hotel, and going on dune adventures.

One of the highlights of Pentwater is spending time with extended family, with my aunts and uncles and cousins and cousins' kids all providing plenty of people to play with.  The kids had a great time getting buried and then singing the original song "We are Talking Heads" over and over at the top of their lungs.

Adelie became very attached to my mom's sister, Aunt Maggie, and spent lots of time as her little shadow on the beach.

My cousin's daughter, Gabby, loved Briggs.  And I loved that she would spend long periods of time entertaining him on the beach each day.

The kids weren't the only ones having fun on the beach.  Carrie and I made a pretty great sand creation that provided hours of fun for Briggs.  He loved playing in the hole!!

And, of course, staying in the same house as all my brothers and their families means that there is always someone to play with.

The cousins had a great time reading, coloring, playing games, running around outside, going to the park, and having dance parties.  And the grown-ups had a great time reading, visiting, and playing games after the kids went to bed.

Leaving Pentwater is always a little bittersweet for me.  It's always nice to come home after a vacation, but there is something about Pentwater that also feels like home.  Luckily, I know that I'm not saying good-bye to Pentwater.  I'm just saying...

...see you next year!

No? Yes!

Briggs is talking more and more every day, but sometimes the English language can be tricky to grasp.  Briggs is starting to say "no".  It's no surprise that this word has entered his vocabulary as it's probably in the top 10 most used words in the house.  The funny thing, however, is that he seems to be confused by the meaning and generally says "no" when he really means "yes."  Zach and I hypothesize that he hears us say "no" to Adelie multiple times every day before she goes ahead and does exactly what she wants to do, probably confusing his understanding of what "no" really means.  (Hmmmm....maybe that's Adelie's problem too.)  Regardless, it's pretty cute when he does this.  For example, the other day we were playing on the playset and he kept wanting to go down the slide.  He'd say "Slide."  I'd ask, "Do you want to go down the slide?"  He'd smile big and sweetly say "No."  I'd correct him and say, "You mean yes."  And then he would say "Jes."  He has also said "no" to more fruit at dinner, playing with a specific toy he requests, looking at books in the car, or going to Grammie's house, each time really meaning yes.  He says it in such a sweet little voice with his happy little smile.  It's just one of those cute little Briggs things that I know I'll want to remember as it always makes me smile.

Do I love this boy?

Jes!!

Summer Lovin'

It's mid-June.  The sun is shining.  The temperature is in the 90's.  The girls went to Vacation Bible School this morning.  We've had several birthday celebrations at pools and splash parks.  The girls played in the sprinkler yesterday.  There is no question about it.  Summer is here!!  And what have we been doing with this first part of our summer???

We've been playing at parks. 

(Who needs slides when you can play with the rocks??)

Adelie and Staley (and Lila) performed their dance camp routine at the end of a week of dance camp.  Staley diligently practiced the routine all week and knew all the steps.  Adelie didn't really care to practice and only knew a handful of the steps, but she had a great time and loved being big enough to go to camp with Staley and Lila.

The girls have been doing lots of bike riding.

Staley and Lila swimming together at Lila's birthday pool party.

Sprinkler fun

Staley all ready for the kids fun run at State Farm Park.

Afterwards, I asked Adelie if she liked the fun run.  She replied, "It wasn't so fun, but it was a run."

The kids had a great time at the splash park for Caroline's birthday party.

And Briggs has discovered one of his new favorite activities.

He LOVES our water table.

We're only a few weeks into summer, but are already filling out days with fun summer activities.  Looking forward to what the rest of summer brings.

Fifteen Months

My Briggs is already 15 months old!  He's so cute and lovable and snuggly and fun.  At his 15 month check-up yesterday, he weighed in at 21.5 lbs (28th percentile) and was 30.5" tall (23rd percentile).  He is still wearing some 12 month clothes, and is starting to wear some of his 18 month clothes.  He wears size 3 diapers and size 3.5 shoes.  Briggs usually naps for about 2 hours in the afternoon and sleeps for around 11-12 hours at night.  He's so easy to put to bed.  There is no need for a long routine.  I just lay him in bed, he sticks his thumb in his mouth, and he goes to sleep.  Easy, peasy.  He just eats table foods, drinks from cup (no more bottles or nursing), and is growing into such a big boy.

My big guy

Likes:  Briggs is still a happy little guy.  He loves playing outside, bath time, cars, books, and his sisters.  Favorite outdoor activities include climbing on the playset, playing in the sandbox, and water table fun.  At the park, he is often happy just playing in the woodchips and the rocks.  Favorite toys include his cars and trucks, balls, Little People toys, and anything his sisters are playing with.  He really enjoys reading, and will sit for a long time to listen to books.  Favorite books are ones with cars/trucks/trains, ones with flaps, and his several sets of miniature books.  Briggs is a good eater, but he loves pancakes/waffles, fruit, yogurt, crackers, and anything sweet.  Briggs loves animals, and gets so excited about seeing our cats or the dogs in the neighborhood.  He's still a bit of a Mama's boy, but loves his Daddy, his grandparents, his cousins, and just about anyone else he meets.  Of course, he loves nothing more than his sisters.

Briggs and his big sisters

Briggs loves playing in the wood chips at the playground

Walking with Daddy like a big boy

Dislikes:  Briggs often fusses initially when we drop him off at the church nursery, and still sometimes fusses when someone else is holding him when I'm around.  When helping in the church nursery, I've also realized that he gets very jealous when I hold another baby.  He will sometimes throw massive fits when I walk out of the room where he is or when I put him down in the kitchen while I try to put away groceries or make a meal.  Briggs will sometimes get mad when Adelie invades his personal space or takes a toy that he is playing with.  He can also get upset when he's in his high chair without food or his carseat without a book or toy to play with.  Briggs is generally a good eater, but doesn't usually care for pastas or most meats.

He definitely has his not-so-happy moments, but is more often smiling.

Skills:  Briggs is now walking much more.  I'd say he's about an 80-85% of the time walker now, increasing this percentage almost on a daily basis.  He loves to climb up the ladder on the playset and steps on the playground.  He can turn around to climb off of furniture, and is starting to learn to turn around to crawl down stairs (although this remains a bit scary and unsafe.)  Briggs loves putting things in, taking things out, coloring on paper, and activating toys.  He helps get dressed by pushing arms and legs into clothing, takes of shoes and socks, and will try to put on his shoes or socks or hats.  He can feed himself with a spoon and a fork, although still more often uses his fingers.  He likes to help brush his hair, brush his teeth, and blow his nose.  Briggs will sometimes tell us "poo poo" and pat his diaper as he's pooping or peeing in his diaper.  Briggs is a big talker.  He has lots of words (maybe around 75 or so), and is starting to put 2 words together.  He labels objects, makes animal sounds, sings parts of songs, helps say grace before meals, and uses please and thank you appropriately.  Briggs also understands so much.  He follows simple directions, gives high fives and fist bumps, blows kisses, puts away toys, shares, dances, and loves to laugh.  He just lights up our lives!

Briggs is walking so much more

My happy 15 month old

Little Jokester

Briggs has officially made his first joke.

Zach taught Briggs the "Go, Go, Go, Go White Sox" song.  It quickly became one of their favorite party tricks.  Zach would sing "Go, Go, Go, Go, White..." and Briggs would proudly finish with "Sox."  A few days ago, Zach and Briggs were practicing their routine.  Zach started off with his typical "Go, Go, Go, Go, White..." and with a big smile, Briggs said, "Shoe."

I sure love my little jokester!