I'm back!

Its hard to remember what we have done since the last time I posted anything! Its been pretty busy around here. I'm watching another little girl for the summer named Morgan. She is a year older than Abby but they play well together...for the most part. There are times where I should be wearing a black and white stripe shirt and a whistle! Audrey is doing well. She will be 4 months old on Saturday! I cant believe it! She is smiling a lot and talking too. She is almost rolling over but cant seem to coordinate everything to get all the way over yet. When she does finally get it, she's just going to get mad because then she will be stuck on her stomach. She'll figure it out eventually. She also slept thru the night in her crib for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was so nice! Lately, she has been getting up in the middle of the night but we get her back to sleep pretty easily without a bottle. It's almost like she wants to make sure that we are still in the house or something! Abby is starting back up with dance class for the summer so she is excited about that. Actually, Abby's big dance recital is one of the larger events that we have had in our lives since my last post. She was so wonderful. She got up on stage at the high school and danced her little heart out in front of a couple hundred people. This is her official recital picture.

we were so proud of her...I cried when she was done. She has come such a long way from crying because she didn't want to go in to the studio for the first class!
Abby also had a wonderful sleep over at Nana and Big Bear's house with her cousin Alasen. They had a princess tea party sleep over and had a great time. We also were able to see Jon's aunt and uncle from Texas as well as his grandparents. Since we didn't want to go all the way home and then drive back to Detroit area the next day to pick up Abby, we stayed at Ashley and Will's house. We were going to have game night with them, but early in the evening a violent ping pong game delayed our plans. Ashely and I weren't downstairs to witness this, but apparently Jon got mad because Will was winning and somehow caused a gash in Will's head. I'm just kidding. What really happened was Will went to get the ball that had rolled over by the circuit breaker box (is that what you call it?) and didn't realize that the cover was open. When he bent down to pick up the ball, he hit his head on the corner of the metal cover and cut his head open.


He was able to stop the bleeding and use butterfly bandages to close up the wound. He did have to shave his head though...poor guy! Hope your head is feeling better Will! After the excitement, we were able to play a game and chat for a while. The next day was church and back to Nana and Big Bear's house for family dinner with the other side of Jon's family. Then back home for a short week as Abby, Audrey and I took Morgan and her mom Adrienne up to Manistee for a couple of relaxing days! The drive up wasn't very relaxing though since Audrey decided to cry for about a 1/2 hour. But we made it and had a great time. We went to the beach, watched movies, relaxed and went to the Bargain Barn! For those of you not familiar with the bargain barn, its a treasure trove of items that were overstocks at other stores and now are priced really cheap! I noticed a lot of stuff from linens and things, which went out of business in December. Found lots of goodies for the girls and myself. Came home on Saturday so we could enjoy fathers day as a family. We didn't do anything really exciting except I made Jon mac and cheese. The real stuff with whole milk and butter! And I mowed the lawn so he wouldn't have to. Actually, I enjoy doing the yard work so I probably would have done it anyway! :) Thats my update...not sure when I will post next. Here are some new pictures of recent events...
Uncle Dave, Aunt Pat, Grandma and Grandpa Volkening and us...

Abby feeding Great Grandma a cookie!

Audrey definitely gets enough food...look at those cute chubby legs!

Beautiful evening at Lake Michigan...

Abby and her sand castles

Abby and Me

Morgan and Adrienne

It's been a while...

since I have had a chance to post anything. We've been pretty busy and Audrey doesn't take long naps anymore. Most days, I can either play with Abby, clean the house, or post something while Audrey is taking a cat nap. Anyhow, we had a very nice memorial day weekend. Had a BBQ at our house for our TLC group from church. cleaned the garage, went to Alasen's birthday party and had my parents over for some work and relaxation. Jon and my dad did the work, finishing the railing on the steps leading to the deck. My mom and I hung out and took the girls to the memorial day parade. This past Saturday, I took Abby to get her dance pictures. We picked up her friend Kassidy and then went to the dance studio early because I had to put makeup on them. I know...Makeup!!!! I know that 3 and 4 year olds are not babies anymore, but I still consider Abby my baby and to put makeup on her was almost too much. Although, she did look really cute in her costume! (pic below) After the pictures, we went to lunch with my parents and then we went to the zoo. I have taken Abby and Audrey a few times during the week but this was the first time Jon was able to go. It was bird day and so they had all kinds of bird related things to do. Abby's favorite was to hold a baby chick. It was really cute but I couldn't get a picture because Jon was feeding Audrey and I had to help Abby hold the chick because it was too big for her little hands. Sunday we went to church and then I cleaned out both cars and Jon mowed the lawn. Today, Anne is watching Abby and Audrey so I have the whole day to myself at home. I have spent all of it with the exception of a 1/2 hour break for lunch and writing this post, cleaning. Our house really needed it!
Audrey update: until about a week ago, Audrey was perfectly happy watching everyone around her without making a peep, but slowly she is learning that she has a voice too. Yesterday, she figured out that if she made enough non crying noises, someone would talk to her and pay attention to what she had to say. Its so cute! She talks to us, her mobile, and anything else that looks interesting to her. She is such a sweet little baby! She is also now officially 3 months old...how time flies!
Abby update: She has become more comfortable on her barbie bike and loves to ride it around the neighborhood. She is excited to dance at her recital on Saturday and I'm just praying that she doesn't get too afraid to go on stage. She seems to be growing up before my eyes and its exciting and sad at the same time.
And now for the pics...
Abby and Kassidy in their spider dance costumes

Alasen's Birthday pics...



Zoo pics...


Abby and Audrey...