Fall 2010

Yes, it's been since St. Patty's since I have last posted! So much has happpened and we have been so busy that I have become a blog slacker big time!



Where to start...



The summer, did it really happen? I was stuck in my truck or a classroom in Elk Rapids all summer so I barely saw the season. It was a real bummer and I have made a promise to my girls that we will have an awesome summer next year.



We did move though, which was a fun ordeal. The house is much bigger than what we had before and we are now in Cheboygan so Travis does not have a terrible commute anymore. 5 minutes and he is home. The girls are adjusting well, Taten is finally starting to realize that she is not going to school with her Grayling friends. That was a little sad for her, but she loves ballet at the Opera House. Tess of course is having fun just hanging out for the ride.



Louie is the newest addition to the family, he's a Mastador (bullmastiff and black lab), and he will be a beast. For now he just looks like a small black lab, but his paws are the size of my hand! Apparently he is the replacement for our third child that I am constantly on the fence about. I think we will be staying at 2. Today anyway!



Enjoy the pumpkin pics. The girls had a blast with Grandma and me even though it was a little chilly that day. We love Michigan in the Fall:)

St. Patty

Hi All,

Well, that few days of warm weather was wonderful...all the snow in the yard melted quickly and the girls were out playing on their swingset while I did yard work.

Last weekend we were able to get down to Grandma and Papa's for a fun St. Patty's weekend. Taten and Tessa saw their first bagpipers and Irish dancers, and on Tuesday Papa watched the girls all day while Travis and I went down to Henry Ford to solve all my problems! I'm hoping Dr. Eisenstein can work miracles, it looks promising.

Enjoy the little Irish lassess.

Love,

Heather

Merry Christmas - A little late!

Well, I know that it is now February and I am way past posting anything from Christmas but we had a hard and fast start to the New Year so better late than never!

Christmas was great! We had a nice, relaxing, go nowhere break that was much needed. Travis, the girls, and I went to Christmas Eve mass and rodeo'd our children for an hour and a half! Thankfully the people around us were very understanding and got a good laugh. Christmas morning was lots of fun, and of course the girls got wayyyy to much. Hopefully I'll remember next time to limit myself, of course Travis will remind me. My parents joined us later in the day, and Travis's dad a few days later. It was so nice to just relax for a few days at our house.

For New Year's we made our annual trip to GR to ring in the New Year with Travis's cousin and his family. Taten loved playing with her cousins, and even Tessa let go of me for awhile:) A few days later we had Christmas with Travis's mom, and then beat the snowstorm home.

We also celebrated Taten's fourth birthday in January. Unfortunately I had class that weekend, but Travis's dad, whose birthday is the same day, joined them and everyone had a great time. That Saturday we celebrated with Huspen's because Jake and Taten are less than 24 hours apart. It was great to get together with our Up North family and chat.

A much needed break and great family time made for a nice end to the year, but of course we are back to the daily grind. Travis is working hard and late, and I have had class every other weekend. The winter weather has tired us out, and even Trav is ready for spring. Here's to hoping that groundhog was wrong and spring will come early this year!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day! We went down to Lexington to spend Thanksgiving with my family and the girls had a blast. We also got a nice night out the night before Thanksgiving and got to see lots of old friends. It was great to see everyone! The best part is that Papa is finally home! Taten was sooo excited to see her Grandpa, and vice versa. The Thanksgiving meal was delicious, we were all stuffed, and all the girls got to play together. Crazy household! Mom and I got a long overdue day to ourselves on Friday for shopping by ourselves and a great uninterrupted lunch! Thanks to Travis and Dad. Then on Saturday a crazy dinner out at a great Italian restaurant with the whole family together.

The carriage picture is Travis and Taten in a "Cinderella" carriage at the Christmas walk in Grayling. She was in Heaven! Hope you all enjoy your holidays.

Love,

The Lake's

P.S. Travis got a 6 point buck while hunting with his Dad. Way to go Daddy!

Happy Halloween

First let me apologize for the blog looking the way it does. My computer was misbehaving tonight, sorry.

Well, it wasn't exactly a Happy Halloween. As some of you know, we were very, very sick in our house that week, and the week following. Tessa started the week with both ears being infected, moving on to a mild case of H1N1. Then I got a more severe case of H1N1 because I can't get the immunization, and poor Taten missed out on a friends fun birthday party on Halloween because of her sick family. Lucky for us Travis came home and took care of the girls, and stayed in bed for 2 days (even missing class).

Thankfully I was able to get Taten's Halloween costume finished, barely, but just in time. She had told me earlier in the month that she had wanted to be a witch, a "Fancy Nancy" witch. I loved it! Immediatly I got out the sewing machine, glue gun, and spray glitter. Travis took Taten out trick-or-treating and Tessa and stayed home in sick bay. Taten had a good time, but maybe next year we'll all be healthy.

Love to you all,

Heather

Pumpkins

Well we didn't have to dredge through a red dirt pumpkin patch this year, although it was a little colder! This year we went with friends of ours to a local market that had a huge pumpkin patch, corn maze, horse rides, and many other fun things for the girls. Lucky for me Travis was home for all of this, so the girls were able to have fun and I could relax. Unfortunately I was only able to get one picture of the girls together and neither of them was looking at the camera, go figure. Maybe I'll have better luck at Christmas. Halloween pictures are coming soon...there aren't that many, H1N1 and ear infections reared it's ugly head in our house. Speaking of ear infections, Tessa gets tubes on Monday. We are so excited!!! Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Heather and crew

Tessa's 1st pony ride, such a big girl!

Taten and her Daddy, she is so happy!

All by herself!!!!

I swear Tessa will climb in, or on anything.

Taten looks so old here.

Taten's 1st Day of School

Ok, well I didn't cry, but I think that's because I knew there are many more first days of school to come. Taten was so excited yesterday that she wore her backpack all afternoon. I was so excited to see how my morning would go with just Tess. I must say it was bliss!! Is that bad? Anyway, her teachers were very impressed that she already knew all of her letters and sounds, and I was impressed that she hadn't bossed everyone into a full on Broadway show with coordinating dance and music in the four hours she had been there! She was also excited to see that three of her friends from Mrs. Renee's were there, and her friend Edi. I don't think it was that hard of a transition for her, and she loves the idea of school. So yippee all around for everyone!

The Lake's