My blankie boy...

Ethan sure loves his "blankies!" He is my blankie boy! They are really burp clothes, but he has a ton of them, and apparently he thought he needed several to snuggle with this morning. (I think there were 5 in that pile this morning.) The white diapers with ribbon were made for him by a friend of mine from GR, Brenda Tower, and the flannel ones with designs were made by Nana Glupker. So thank you both, because he loves them SO much! The good thing is he's not attached to just ONE blankie, however, he knows he has a TON, so sometimes he likes to pull several out. :-) We're wondering what's going to happen when baby #2 comes along in a few months, and he realizes he has to share them. I'm trying to think if there's another way to have maybe some different ones for the new baby, but these are so nice and absorbent for the little ones. :-)

Manton's Harvest Festival....

Labor Day Weekend is Manton's big Holiday weekend. There are festivities going on all weekend in town, including a craft show and carnival fair. Saturday evening, our teens served about 300 alumni and their guests from Manton Schools at their Alumni Banquet. We had about 15 teens come out to help serve. They did a great job once again! (My parents were up for a couple of days, so they helped out by watching Ethan.) After we served, we were able to eat dinner at the school. Then we brought the teens back to our house for games and wrapped up the evening with ice cream sundaes and cookies!

Sunday afternoon, our church has their big Harvest Festival Dinner. It is a potluck dinner. I was in charge of setting the tables, food prep and serving, as well as clean up. I had a few ladies who were great helpers in this. We were set for about 160 people, and I think we were pretty full. It was a great time of fellowship.

Sunday evening, our church hosted Manton's Community Hymnsing. We probably had at least 150 people or more from the community churches, as well as ours, attend. Bart led the hymnsing (as shown below.) People come and request their favorite hymns to sing, and there were about 5 or 6 special numbers as well. (I did not do a special number this year, because I haven't had much time to work up anything special.)

Finally, Monday morning, we have our Harvest Festival Parade in town. Our church always has a float promoting our Awana program. Here are a few pictures from the parade:



Our new church van, pulling our float with a Patriotic Theme this year. (Bart, Ethan and I are on the right side of the float.)


Several kids from Awana participate by sitting on the float, by riding their bikes, etc.



Continuing down Main Street (again Bart, Ethan and I are on the right).



A closer shot of our family walking in the Parade.



Ethan rode well for the whole parade, even though it was HOT! It got up to about 90 degrees (after the parade was done, thankfully!) Notice Ethan's toes propped up on his stroller. He's just "chillin' " out, enjoying the ride. :-) He even waved some of the time. We finished up our morning, by getting a delicious Chicken Dinner prepared by the Rotary Club. We chose to take our box dinners home and eat in the air conditioning, and then Ethan crashed for his nap!

Miscellaneous shots...

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures:

This is a beautiful hummingbird out in my (dying) hanging baskets. Ethan spotted it Saturday morning and Bart was able to take a picture of it. I asked Ethan to tell Grandma & Grandpa what he saw that morning (the hummingbird) and he pointed right to the basket that he saw the bird in. He's SO observant! It is a neat shot though! My blankie boy... He and Spencer are usually laying on my blanket before I get a chance to get our bed made.
He loves to snuggle with his "blankies" and my teddy bear. He usually runs to his bedroom to get a pile of blankies (burp clothes) out. This afternoon, he grabbed 4 clean ones all at once. Then he cries when I take them away from him, because I don't want to have to wash 5 blankies a day. I let him have one or two clean ones a day to snuggle with. (What a mean Mom, huh?)
I was out cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon, and Ethan was being quiet, so I figured he was being good. Well, when he walked out into the living room with one of my t-shirts, I figured out what he was doing. I walked into my room to find this.
My busy little boy... always on the go!

Our little climber...

Ethan is continuing to learn how to climb up on furniture. He figured out a couple of weeks ago, that with his block bin in front of the couch, he could step up on that and then get on the couch.

(Don't worry this is Ethan's play laptop, not our good one.)
Sitting in my own little chair, which I can now get in and out of by myself. (Check out those chunky legs.)
Sitting on the ottoman reading books with Daddy.
This is one of my new favorite books, it has flaps to lift and open.Last but not least, the toes are finally getting up on top of the railing. This is the "I don't want to take a nap" protest. Hopefully it will be awhile before he's climbing out of the crib!

Mommy's Day Out!

Ethan riding on his new Tonka truck

Yesterday, I had a "Mommy's Day Out!" My friend, Brenda, took me to Traverse City, while Bart stayed home to have a "Daddy Day" with Ethan. We went consignment shopping looking for nice used baby/toddler clothing, etc. Our best find was probably Ethan's Tonka riding truck. It is in mint condition and he just loves it! (That was Grandma Brenda's present for Ethan.) I also found a few baby clothes for our "little foot" (baby #2, as we're calling him right now), and some tops for Ethan for the fall/winter. It was very fun!

We went out for lunch and enjoyed a fun day of shopping around T.C. Bart did great with Ethan, and was a tremendous help to me as well. I came home around 5:00 PM, to find my loving husband and son at the door waiting for me. There was also a nice, sweet aroma coming from the kitchen. Bart had made dinner. Not only that, but it was a NEW RECIPE, that he found on-line, a chicken and peach dish with rice. WOW, was I impressed! I know he can cook, but the fact that he took the initiatve to do something like that was SO .... WOW... appreciated, that's for sure! He had also vaccuumed, now I'm bragging. (I know what you're thinking, "Boy is she spoiled!" Yes I am! :-) )

Then I had a baby shower last night, so Ethan had a nice long "Daddy Day". That's probably good, since Bart will begin to be busier with his class he is taking this fall. He also has some other long, days that he will be gone in the next week (including a trip to MI Adventure with the teens tomorrow, and an Awana Conference in T.C. on Sat.). I came home right after the shower to see Ethan before he went down for bed.

Thank you, Brenda, for a nice, relaxing day out. Thank you, Bart, for being such a wonderful, helpful, loving, caring, thoughtful husband! I appreciate him SO much! Thank you, Lord, for both of them.

Just a couple of cute pictures of Ethan playing on "his" computer (Bart's old laptop).

Mackinac Island Trip....

Earlier this week, Bart and I took a short vacation (without Ethan) up to Mackinaw City and the Island. We decided this was the best time to go ... before school starts, things got busy this fall, and especially before baby #2 comes along. Nana came up to stay with Ethan while we were away. Here are a few pictures of our trip to Mackinac. (The post below shows the Bed & Breakfast where we stayed.) The weather was PERFECT, sunny and mid-70's both days we were there.

The beautiful Mackinaw Bridge all lit up at sunset.
We took the 10:00 AM Ferry to the Island, which was the only one during the day to take a trip under the bridge before going over to the Island. What a sight to see from directly below.
The Grand Hotel (from the Ferry). We have taken a picture of it every time we've gone to the island, but I told Bart, "It just doesn't seem right going by it and NOT taking a picture."
We took a private carriage tour around the island for the first time. We were able to see several sights we've seen before and a few we have never seen before. We drove right up by the Grand Hotel, which is beautiful, no matter how many times you've seen it!
The "grand" porch of the Grand Hotel. It is magnificent looking!

While on our private carriage tour, we went by the homes on the island, which we have never been by to see this close before. Some big like this, and others that the "common" people who live on the island year-round live in also, which were quite a bit smaller.

The view of the harbor and downtown from up on the hill.
A private home called "The Baby Grand," which we've also never seen before.

We took our bikes to the Island with us. We rode by Arch Rock. We did not ride ALL the way around the island this time. I have not ridden my bike much, if at all yet this summer, so I didn't think I should break myself in with a 7 mile trip, being 5 months pregnant. We probably ended up riding at least 5 miles though. We just didn't go around the back side of the island, which is a little bit more hilly (there's not much to see back there anyway, as we remember it.).

Our last night in Mackinaw City, there was a Concert Band performing. It was the "Straits Area" band, which consisted of members from probably 20 years (or high school maybe) up to several gray heads. An "old" guy was even playing the piccolo! After giving him a hard time (to Bart, not to him), I finally realized he's probably better than I am right now, not being very practiced up. He was very good! We enjoyed the concert, though it was cool outside. We rounded up our evening by picking up some fudge of course. (They don't call us "fudgies" for no reason, right?)

Deer Head Inn, Mackinaw City...

These are pictures of the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at in Mackinaw City. It was beautiful, breakfast was delicious, and the hosts were very personable and helpful. We found the rates to be very reasonable, including discounts for extra nights stayed (depending on when you go). I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice place to get-away. It is called "Deer Head Inn".

The front of Deer Head Inn.
An inviting porch to relax on.
A nice living room to visit in.
The beautiful dining room we ate in.
More of the dining room.
This was our room, very clean, comfortable, and nice!
Our bathroom included a double shower (around the corner to the left) and clawfoot tub.
All of the bedrooms have a fireplace. This room had one that faced both the bed and the bath.
Beautiful stone fire place... in another room.

If anyone is interested in staying there, you can check them out online at http://www.deerhead.com/. The owners names are Barry & Nancy Dean. The phone number is: 231-436-3337.