who you lookin' at?

what a little personality elle is developing
it is so fun spending each day with her, i can't believe that in just a few short days i'll be back to the work life. i'll miss our breakfast time, snuggling up watching cartoons, reading silly stories before nap, and waiting for you to wake up just to see you smile!

she is getting so close to crawling and is beginning to pull herself up on things. she is also standing on her own when up against something...although she's still a little shaky, she's getting the hang of it. 7 months has flown by, i can't believe how much she's changed and how fun each new stage is. we love you, ellington virginia.

wordless wednesday

the right hook

sunday we drove to saugatuck to meet up with the docks - jeff, emily and micah
josh and i got engaged at oval beach there and haven't been back in a while. it was fun to walk around the beach town, window shopping (mainly b/c someone had to stay with the kiddos) and watching the kids play together. ok, well actually they can't play together just yet, but micah did get in a good right hook on elle. he's just playin' hard to get, and elle just laughed.

it's been fun watching our kids grow and realizing how much our dinner conversation has changed. it use to be em and i talking about our running routes and
well jeff and josh, of course...football.
so i guess the boys' conversation hasn't changed much, but em and i...now it's all about the kids.
we love it and wouldn't change it for a minute.

it is funny to see the people around us at the restaurant laugh and comment about our kids.
they are both very personable babies. micah will go up to ANYONE, might need to have the strange talk sooner than later and well elle she just smiles and anyone who will look her way.

we love you guys!!

up north

last week we took a trip up north to the river property. josh's grandma, uncle paul, aunt kim and the boys (luke, adam, & john) own a house on the ausable river in grayling, mi. it was a fun filled couple of days, visiting with family and enjoying a visit from anna and bryan. josh and i took a kayak trip down the ausable river, it was a beautiful couple of hours just paddling down the river. elle caught a little bit of a bug while we there, so she was little under the weather. but in all, she did a great job seeing how we had just gotten back from camping in holland with my family. she was trooper! uncle paul felt bad that she was sick so he bought her a pink cat bank, so cute! of course, josh had let him know that he was setting the bar high early on for gifts for when your sick. but he's the great uncle so he can do pretty much anything. thanks uncle paul...know we can start saving for college!!

the boys were helpful with elle and loved playing legos with her. luke, the oldest is going into the 7th grade and is starting football this year. josh is so excited for him, spite his mother's fears :) i think it was fun for josh to relive a little bit of that excitement he felt the first time taking the field for practice and his first game. football is his passion and someday he can help coach his kids, who knows maybe elle will turn out to be a football player. we're up for anything!

adam, the middle child, is such a sweetheart with elle. he knew just how to talk to her and what she'd want. what a great little helper. he was my baby monitor checker...always checking to see if the light was green or red or if she was making any noise. thanks buddy!

and of course, john michael....the youngest! right there with you bud.
he is such a crack up and i can't wait to see what his 3rd grade teacher has to say. he has something to say about everything and it's usually pretty funny. elle had to learn to share her snacks this weekend with him, that's right he thoroughly enjoyed her strawberry-banana puffs. guess we know what to send you someday in your college care package. thanks for the laughs lat week, john!

elle, adam & josh

getting sleepy by the bonfire

john enjoying elle's snacks....strawberry-banana puffs

eating ice cream...this is just before she spilled a glass of ice water right into my lap!

elle's new bank...start saving, girl!

camping out

we took elle on her first camping trip to holland state park with my family.
we had a great time hanging out at the beach, swimming in the waves at lake macatawa, which we later found out had just reopened due to salmonella poisoning. my dad an health inspector for the state didn't seem to be too concerned.
the first night we were walking through the campground and ran into my old college roommate- janelle, small world...especially the dutch world! haha...so they got to meet elle for the first time and we spent a little time catching up with one another.
elle also had her first graham cracker- thanks aunt wendi! she know loves them.

it was a great getaway before both josh and i start school.

From Collages

baby girl thomas sprinkle

we can't wait to meet the newest addition to the thomas family come november.
elle will finally have a girl to hang with amongst all these boys!
while martha's sister was visiting we threw martha & her sister (who's due late december)
a little sprinkle. erin (martha's sister) sent invitations via mail and friends from all over the US sent gifts to marth and baby girl thomas. such a great idea, who would have thought of a mail shower, love it!
it was so fun to see all the cute girl stuff that will soon take over her house.

martha and baby girl-
we're looking forward to some good girl time
love ya,
em & elle

elle getting ready for the party...daddy barricaded her on the couch with pillows while he vacuumed

diaper cake full of girly treats!

so soft!!

so cute, from one of martha's friends who is a music teacher.

the girls

splishing & splashing

it's a whole new world now that elle can sit up on her own.
she has always loved her bath time, but now she can really splash around. her daddy still loves to make up songs whenever he gets a chance. last night they remixed the traditional Christmas song: 12 days of Christmas...
to the 12 minutes of bath. here's the first 5 verses, still working on 6-12.
On the first minute of bath, my daddy gave to me
a gray dolphin in a green tub.

On the 2nd minute of bath, my daddy gave to me
two alligators and a gray dolphin in a green tub.

On the 3rd minute of bath, my daddy gave to me
three rubber duckies, two alligators, and a gray dolphin in a green tub.

On the 4th minute of bath, my daddy gave to me
four foam shapes, three rubber duckies, two alligators and a gray dolphin in a green tub.

On the5th minute of bath, my daddy gave to me
five green turtles, four foam shapes, three rubber duckies,
two alligators and a gray dolphin in a green tub.

6-12 to come...

beach babe!

last week we spent some afternoons and evenings at the beach.
it's nice living by the water in the summer time, even though we don't get to it
as often as we'd like.

we packed a picnic dinner at hit the sand for some family time.
elle loved dipping her toes in lake michigan and digging around in the sand.

gramps even joined us for an evening swim
we met up with some friends at the beach last week.
their little girl, alyssa, loves to entertain ellington.
they both loved just sitting in the sand waiting for the waves
thanks alyssa for being such a good little helper with elle, she loves it!!