Welcome September!

Happy September! I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have a lovely September weather-wise. It has been unseasonable cool, but this week as warmed up! YAY!

We have officially started soccer season. Cassidy, Cailin and I attended our first soccer game decked out in our soccer/Frankenmuth gear. The girls sure look cute in their little soccer shirts. I will have to take some pictures of them sporting their gear. Lucas' team is quite good this season. He claims they are the best team he has had in 8 years. I have to admit they are pretty exciting to watch. They played North Branch on Monday and mercied them (9-0). We look forward to a successful season.

Cassidy will start 3 year old preschool next Tuesday (Sept. 8th). We are pretty excited. She has a new backpack and some new clothes, so she is pretty excited. Her school does a neat transition thing where the parents stay with their child on the first day of school. They go through the routine with the parents in tow. We do this once the first week and again the second week. Then the kiddies are on their own. We are so blessed with Cassidy's teacher. She is a Hart family friend and really lovely lady. I pray that Cassidy loves school.

Cailin is getting so big! She is talking more and more. Currently, she is really into Dora. She calls her Dodo and she likes to say "backpack, backpack." It is really quite cute. She is getting tall and has very blonde hair right now. She is definitely our little cuddle bug.

In other exciting news...we will be welcoming Baby #3 in March 2010. We are feeling blessed and a little overwhelmed of the idea of a new baby. I think Lucas is keeping his fingers crossed for a boy...but we just really want a healthy pregnancy and baby.

That is our quick update...hopefully I will remember to update before October!

July & August

As usual, I am way behind in my blogging. July was certainly a busy month. Some highlights...

* Camping in Presque Isle

* Spending a weekend along the Lake Huron shore with our dear friends.

* Good weather (sometimes!)

* Farm fresh produce

* Alicia's 10 year high school reunion

* Camping & Canoeing in good ole Roscommon

* some other exciting developments...

We have busy enjoying our nicer weather. We actually hit the normal range for summer here in MI. It has been a strange summer, but we are soaking up every last drop of sunshine as fall is right around the corner.

Things we are looking forward to:

* Cassidy starts 3 year old preschool in September.

* Soccer season

* Indian summer (we hope!)

Now some pictures from the last month or so! (actually just pictures from camping in Presque Isle, because I can't get the others to load! I will have to try again later!)

Pictures from July 4th!

Working at the Aid Station during Volkslaufe!

Lots and lots of water!

Bouncy, bounce!

Phew!

What a whirlwind these last few days have been! The last week Lucas has been gone in the evenings working on Volkslaufe set-up. The week of work culminated in the running of the 34th Volkslaufe on July 4th. www.volkslaufe.org

Along with Volkslaufe festivities we enjoyed a visit with Derek and Emily. Derek will be leaving this week for a 6 month tour in Afghanistan. It was an appropriate time to celebrate our nations Independence while enjoying time with one of our heroes. Our thoughts an prayers are with Derek and Emily during this time.

We had a lovely family BBQ on Thursday evening at Bill & Janette's. It was fun for Cassidy and Cailin to play with their cousins. Cassidy was a little wary of all those kids taking over her turf! The kids ran up and down the hill, took a hike to the pond, and played lots of frisbee and tag. It was good time.

Friday we went down to Heritage Park where all the Volkslaufe festivities were under way. We enjoyed a spaghetti dinner sponsored by the St. Lorenz youth. Cassidy and Cailin enjoyed the free kid's activities which included bounce houses, bounce slides, and bounce obstable courses. There was a lot of bouncing to be had! The girls and I left before the fireworks. Cailin was quite sleepy and Cassidy isn't a big fan of loud noises. Cassidy and I were able to watch some fireworks from our front window. She thought they were pretty neat!

Saturday morning we were up early and headed out to help at an aid station where we handed out water to all the 10k & 20k runners. Cassidy and Cailin were very helpful. Cailin filled up cups while getting increasingly wet and Cassidy helped hand out water. They were both great and did a wonderful job! After we finished at the aid station we headed down to Heritage Park for the 2k fun run for the kids. Lucas ran with Cassidy and I pushed Cailin in the stroller. Cassidy ran almost the entire way by herself. She loved everyone cheering for her! After the race we had some Chicken Dinner and headed home for naps. After naps we headed over to Bill & Janette's for the post-Volkslaufe BBQ. Great food, great people, good times! Cassidy and Cailin had fun playing with some other children. The sandbox was a hit! It was an enjoyable day!

Sunday we headed back down to Heritage Park for the Patriotic Praise service. What a great way to show our appreciation for our service men and women! It was inspirational! After the service we came home and had a little BBQ at our house. We swam and relaxed which was a fitting end to a great but busy weekend.

We hope that you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend and amidst all the of partying, fireworks, and festivities that you remembered what we are celebrating. Please remember to say Thank you to our service men and women. We especially thank our heroes: Robert Hanovich Sr., Robert Hanovich, Jr., Joseph Hanovich, Terry Hart, Derek Hart, Leland Hart, and Joshua Huffman.

Days go by...

It seems as though June has flown by...and we are gearing up for July. Volkslaufe is right around the corner (Saturday), Derek & Emily are home tomorrow, mini-vacations, and pool time. We have a lot happening here in July.

Hopefully, the nice weather will come back. We had beautiful weather all last week and now it is rainy, dreary, and a bit cool. The girls are not happy about not being in the pool!

The rain showers did give us a nice gift yesterday in a double rainbow! It was beautiful!



I promise to write more soon...we are busy cleaning and organizing (Spring cleaning a little late!)

Have a beautiful and blessed Independence Day! Please say a prayer for our country men and women serving home and overseas.

Our Heroes:
Joshua Huffman, USAF
Derek Hart, Army
Terrel Hart, Navy
Leland Hart, Army
Robby Hanovich, USAF
Bob Hanovich, USMC-retired
Joe Hanovich, Navy

Time flies...

Cassidy dressed herself in just snowpants...fun, fun.

Things have pretty much gotten back to normal...well...as normally as a home with toddlers can be I guess. Cassidy has made major improvements during bedtime. It has been a little stressful, but she is doing very well going to sleep in her bed without Mama or Daddy sitting with her. She throws a little fit, but is usually sound asleep in 10 minutes. I HATE hearing her cry and call for Lucas or I, but we are determined to create a smoothier bedtime routine. Cailin does fine as long as she has her bottle, which is the next bedtime issue to tackle. I am not looking forward to that saga...one thing at a time...

Our backyard landscaping (or lack thereof) took a turn over the last few weeks. We have an above ground pool now. It is up and running but basically not accessible as there is no way to get in the pool right now. That is okay because the weather as really not be great. I am hoping that June 21 really marks the beginning of summer! The pool accessibility should be fixed this week with the extension of our existing deck by adding UT's former pool deck. Hopefully it is nice so we can get this stuff done...then it is time for some flower pots, painting a table, and putting in a very small raised bed garden. We would just like a couple tomato plants and perhaps some pepper plants. Nothing too fancy!

We have also been fortunate to have a few nice days to enjoy FHS Varsity Softball. Cameray is on the team so we enjoy watching the games. They won Districts and Regionals, so we are off to watch Quarterfinals in Flushing this afternoon. We are keeping our fingers crossed because they are playing Reese, and Reese is currently the top ranked team in Division 3 softball. I am sure it wil be a good game.

I am off to make some lunch, put some kids down for a nap, and then off to the softball game.

Have a beautiful day!

Home

Cailin and I are back from our Georgia adventures. We had a lovely time in Savannah.

Highlights:
- Seeing the family, especially Mom and Dad
- Eating at The Lady & Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant)
-Walking along the riverwalk (huge hills and steep stairs)
- the squares (every city should be set up like this!)
- Uncle Bob's retirement ceremony
- Karaoke
- touring the Juliette Gordon Low house (the founder of Girl Scouts)
- trolley tour

We had a good time. I wish Cassidy and Lucas could have joined us, but they had a great time camping with Grandmom and Grandad.

Of course, all the excitement caught up with Cassidy, Cailin and I...we all got sick Tuesday - Thursday. It was not fun. Pukey, puke...yuck!!!

We are all better now and looking forward to some nicer weather. Rain, Rain go away!