Shoes mama

Joe is obsessed with shoes right now. The little man has such wide feet that we only have two pair that fit hit, but he certainly has a mind of his own as to which pair he will wear each day. Aunt Deb got this pair, but they are currently too big for him to really wear. That didn't seem to stop him the other night!

First of the Halloween season

Indian Joe had a wonderful time, even in the blustery wind, at Grandma and Papa's house for their Halloween Harvest Party. I had my hands full keeping track of him throughout the day, so these are the only good pictures I got (with Bella and Brie; with Grandma Lori).

Now if we can keep the headdress on for the remaining Halloween parties we will be in good shape!

Family addition

We are having the ultrasound on September 30th, so if everyone is lucky we will tell you if Joe is getting a brother or sister!!!!

I will not lie, probably will not post again until after October 3rd when my parents have their big Halloween party. We should have some great photos from that.

All grown up

So, please don't call the police on us! Joe figured out this weekend how to climb into the car and even the Jeep all by himself if the door is open. He finds it hysterical that he gets to sit in the seat all by himself. In the top picture he was pretending to put the car in drive while he devilishly laughed at Mike standing in the side door.

The bottom picture is from Labor Day weekend in Gaylord. The first time we gave Joe corn on the cob he would not touch it. Clearly he cannot get enough of it now!

Minnesota Trip

We went to Minnesota back in July, but hey- who is counting! Had a wonderful, but super short trip, to see our friends. Here are some photos at the zoo, Joe and Genna playing and on the carousel- which Joe LOVED!

Looking forward to spending more time with the Topness' next trip!

My oh my

I have no idea where the time has gone since the start of June- but here I am FINALLY posting again. Going to cheat on the photos and combine some posts. Basically we have been running all over the place, working, working on the house up north, and in Lansing - and somewhere in there trying to rest as this "having a baby thing" is slightly more exhausting with a toddler running around!

These pictures are from cousin Bella's birthday (the water park); cousin Ayden's birthday (the bikes); Joe saying his prayers; daddy and Joe napping!

Please enjoy!

Moving Day

This past weekend we all helped to move Grandma Laske into her new apartment. How wonderfully nice- I want to move in!

I am cheating as this picture was take a couple weeks ago in Merrill, but thought it would fit with the theme for this post.

Grandma did get moved in just fine. Joe did not actually help as he was in Merrill, but I know he was there in our minds as we got Grandma settled in to her new place.

Possible posts to come this weekend if the weather holds and we can get outside!

Graduation Mass

Cousin Emily is graduating from high school next week. Joe and I got to attend Mass in Merrill where the recognized the graduates. I got quite the workout while the little monkey took a couple trips down the isle hamming it up with folks along the way. The best was when he threw his ball three pews in front of us- to the very front of church.... What was I thinking bringing a ball to church.

We are very proud of Emily and cannot wait for the graduation ceremony on the 28th!

Too cute

Spent Saturday of Mothers Day weekend at Grandma Lori's house. Cousin Bre was having a great time with the toys, so Joe decided to join in and share some secrets!

Island Joe

This very cute outfit is from Auntie Deb when she went to Hawaii! It has a matching one for cousin Ayden, but we have not seen him to get a photo of both boys together. Joe was playing in his clothes while I got all his summer stuff out and he certainly got in the island mood! It was a milk Mai Tai in his sippy! :-)

Take your child to work day

By far one of the funnier pictures I have been a part of in a long time! My wonderful boss was gracious enough to allow all of us to bring our kids to work this morning for "Legislative Take Your Child to Work Day." Well.......... we clearly should have thought this out more since it ended up being 4 boys under the age of 3 in the office at one time. Oh my! This photo was taken on the Senate floor prior to the start of session. All of the boys were fascinated with different things - hence the random directions they are all looking during every picture taken.

It was most fun to show off Joe to everyone at work. He got a lot of flirting done today!

Thanks again to Senator McManus for letting us do it!

Once I download my camera I will post a couple more pictures of Joe taking charge on the Senate floor.

The long awaited posting

I clearly cannot promise to be regular in updating this blog, but I do try my best. However, when I called my mom tonight and wondered how on earth it became Thursday evening, it got worse when I realized that it is also almost May!!!!!!

All is well here, Joe is growing and changing every day! He is such a treat, with all of the talking and a complete exhaustion with all the walking/running/climbing! :-)

Mike is working a lot these days, and the poor house is suffering for it as I have NO energy to clean at the end of the day once Joe goes to bed. Lucky for me he had such a big day outside today that he was asleep by 745pm. The house is close to in order, but I needed a break tp catch up on the blog. (Will post pictures of the rest of our big day next.)

I have been keeping very busy at work, and am beginning to hunker down for a very long legislative budget process as well as a very intense campaign season!

Little Man turns 1

We had great Birthday parties for Joe the weekend before his birthday and he had a blast with the cake. It was like heaven for him. We were so blessed to have everyone come and share in the special day.

It is hard to believe that one year has passed so quickly. Looking back at pictures, we cannot even remember some of the pictures from those first weeks when Joe was so tiny! And to top it off, at his one year appointment we discovered he has grown 3 inches since his 9 month appointment. He is now 33 1/4 inches tall. And he is climbing stairs and anything he can turn over to make a "hill" out of!

Our little walker

Even though Joe started walking on his own right after Christmas, it is still so fun to see him run up and down the hall!!

Yikes the weather!

I am a very bad aunt and forgot our camera this weekend for cousin Gabriella's Baptism. I will get some pictures and post them soon.

After a long and exhausting week (for everyone, especially Mike who worked 14 hours on Friday) we packed up early Saturday morning and went to southeast Michigan to visit family. I was supposed to take my nephews Ethan and Dawson to the Detroit Science Center, but the weather was SOOOOO horrible in Detroit, that I decided against that. Instead, we still braved the weather (with Mike driving, of course!) and took the boys to lunch and an arcade so they could have some fun.

The weather did not let up at all on Saturday, so Mike had to shovel out Grandma's driveway just so we could park the Jeep there overnight. Thank goodness Sunday was just cold, but no snow. 6 inches had to be shoveled out of our driveway in Lansing when we got home. UGH!

Well, start of another week and hopefully Joe will not get into too much stuff this week, like trying to climb the stairs without one of us around..... Gotta remember to shut that door! :-)

Northern Winter Wonderland

We finished our Holiday time off up north. Joe loves it outside, even when it was night and FREEZING! Joe also had his first tractor ride- which is hard to see in this picture.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my family in Lapeer. Thank goodness the weather held until the evening, and everyone made it home safely in time for Santa to visit. My handsome little man had a great time- but of course his outfit no longer fits him!

Second Date

Abby Meyers and Joe had a second attempt at a play date just before Christmas..... I think this one went much better than the first where Abby was teething and Joe slept! :-) They both had a great time playing with the loads of toys that Joe got from his early Christmas parties.

Double Trouble

So how much trouble do you think these two will be for their parents?!?! Cousin Ayden and Joe certainly had a good Christmas and I don't even want to think about the trouble they were plotting for next year.

Standing is so easy

So, it is very hard to get a picture of a walking baby, and since Joe was not walking yet in this picture, we were so proud that he was standing on his own! But as of this posting he is walking full speed ahead with no help anymore.

Where in the world did the time go.....

Horrible mommy blogger here- letting you know that I will update a lot of pictures from the holidays tonight. (But have to get a load of laundry going first!) Having a new job where I am in an office until 5PM is wrecking havoc on my schedule right now.... need to figure out a new routine!

We spent Christmas on the road with family and then went to the winter wonderland of Gaylord for the remainder of the Holiday.

All is well here, Joe is walking on his own now- here comes the gate!!! He has 8 teeth in and I think some more coming because of the cold and cough that he can't shake.

Have fun looking at the new pictures.