Early August 2011

I am nice and behind on blogging again. Grrrr. Life has been busy, but nothing much has happened. Do you know what I mean? Days on end where the laundry is barely getting done, but you have no idea why. Yes, I have two kids now, and it's an ever changing adjustment, but still. What have I been doing? I think I am biding the time since my parents left until my sister in law Jenni comes. Did you know Jenni was coming?!?! I know! Get excited, because I am. Oh the treats I have planned, she wont know what hit her. P.S. By the way, I will get this excited for you to visit too, whoever you are. I will make you awesome treats for anyone that wants to buy a plane ticket to Michigan. Anyhow, here are a bunch of shots and tidbits from my parent's visit. They got to come out for Winston's blessing. I posted his blessing, but here are a bunch more from the visit.

Winston's blessing outfit, I'm kind of a snob (you all know that) about kids-wear. So I was more than kind of obsessed with getting him a perfect little church outfit to be blessed in. I didn't want all white, or girly or a lot of things. Luckily, I found the blazer for like $3 on Old Navy clearance ages ago, the shirt was there also for a few dollars and the tie was about 50¢ at a thrift store. Sadly, I could not find little khaki pants to save my life. Well, I could find them for $25 dollars, but I don't spend that much on my pants, so I'm sure not going to spend it on something he might wear once. In the end I found a pair for $15, it still kills me, but oh well. He looked darling.

Guy Smiley.
(P.S. My mom once told me that if I had been a boy they might have named me "Guy". Seriously mom? Thank heavens you had a girl.)

His whole outfit makes me laugh. Some people think that grown-up clothes on babies is a ridiculous idea, and they're right. But come on! How freaking cute is he? Little tie? Button up shirt that will never stay tucked in? It kills me!

One day my mom flagged down the Schwan truck to buy a bunch of ice cream bars. I love my mom. Eleanor has been enjoying them ever since. As usual, we barely have any pictures of our guests of honor. We tried to get one with my parents, Winston and Eleanor, but she had other plans.

A cute shot of our increasingly smiley baby. He's at such a sweet stage right now. I love when he coos back and forth with us.

Grandpa and Eleanor one morning. (Please excuse my craft area disaster behind them.) My parents introduced Eleanor to Slim Fast. For them, a sensible breakfast alternative, for Eleanor, CHOCOLATE DRINK! I actually feel ok about her having it on occasion. It beats mornings where her breakfast consists of licking a banana.

Cute parents on the blessing day with Win.

After 8 or so shots, this is the best "smile" E would give me.

Their necks must have hurt by the end of the trip.

Us again.

My mom and E holding W. Yes, it is as precarious as it looks. But look! He's smiling!

And now E is too.

One thing the Howell side loves is swimming. We decided to try out the local aquatic center in town. Guess who is not loving the idea?And guess who is?Her look of concern here is due to the kid-sized frog slide. We thought she would be going crazy over it, but nope. It took both grandparents, myself and about 80 attempts before she finally went down it. (It's about 3-4 feet down.) Once she did she loved it, of course, but by then it was time to go.

She loves swimming. It's downright criminal that I don't take her more often.

I tried to get W in the water, but what felt perfect to us was incredibly cold for him. He hollered bloody murder. I felt extra stupid as everyone within a three state area turned to look at the fool mom who was torturing her newborn. We got him out soon enough and didn't try that again. Maybe when he's 12.

The only downside to our water day was that in a hand off, I dropped my camera in the water. Nice. Oh well, it was almost 4 years old, and I've been contemplating getting a new one anyways. The lame part was getting all of the pictures onto my computer. I put the old card in another camera and loaded them ok, but my computer kept turning off during the upload. Add into that I also uploaded my parents pictures the same day with the same power problems on my computer, so I have duplicates and triplicates in a thousand different folders on I-photo. So annoying. That's part of what has kept me from blogging. I still have stuff to post from before my folks visit, but it might take me a few weeks to find those photos too. Any suggestions on a new awesome camera? But back to the visit.

One afternoon, Clayton took my parents to MSU to see the campus. Here is a nice picture of him in front of the Law sign. Egads, I need to step it up, I have nearly NO photos of Clayton's experience at school. Need to remedy that.

Eleanor enjoying some ice-cream. If one day, she ever fights her genetics and ends up pudgy, I will have ample evidence as to why. I love how long her cute tongue is.

My parents watched the kids so Clayton and I could go on a date. It was our 5 year anniversary while they were here! Another whole post I plan to do soon. We went to Maru for sushi and then to a movie. Such a needed date night!

As always, it ended all too soon. Eleanor thought so too and hopped in their rental car. She repeatedly asked about going to the airport. Whoops. We didn't remember to prepare her for that. Much like my parents, she loooooves going to the airport.

Soon we get to go pick up Jenni, and soon after that will be our visit to Utah in December! I am dreading the flight there, as I will be traveling with E & W all by myself while Clayton studies for his finals. I figure if I start preparing now, it wont be such a big deal. Can you believe that Winston will be the same age in December that Eleanor was when we moved to Michigan? It's going so fast!