girl or boy???

make your guess???
girl or boy
?

ellington helped make a special cake for the baby. we made a pink and a blue one, come friday afternoon we'll know which one to cut into. this time around we've gone back and forth on finding out or not. each night we change our minds, so we'll see if we actually find out. usually people chicken out and JUST FIND OUT, we're the opposite. it was so much fun not knowing with ellington but this time it would nice to know so we could plan over the summer. so stay tuned to see if the next little white will be a boy or girl. even if we find out we're still not sharing names or the initials so don't try to find out. pretty sure we couldn't even teach ellington how to say the names. that might be a hint for you to ponder.

helping mix up the cake

blue or pink??

the baby boy or girl cupcakes

to tell our families if we are having a boy or girl we're going to have them cut into the blue or pink cake. it should be fun to see their reaction. so needless to say we had to make 2 of each color just in case. now i just have to figure a way out to cover the sides of the cupcake so the color doesn't show through the liner and some white frosting and we're all set.

true friends

cum laude

the journey is done...finally!!

on may 16th josh's year of hard work and tireless hours in the basement studying paid off with an awesome graduation ceremony at Notre Dame du Lac. Just a little trivia for you this is ND actual name: Our Lady of the Lakes. the weekend was packed with 2 ceremonies, a graduation party and visiting with family.

i am so proud of the work josh has put in to this and now he'll join the work force again next week as he starts at Whirlpool as a Senior Financial Analyst. we're excited to see what the future has in store but are simply enjoying having more time together.




congrats honey on graduating with honors...cum laude!!

saturday's MBA graduation

only 22 more years girl and you can graduate from ND too.

sunday's graduation in the football stadium

speaker: brian williams

graduation party highlights...
awesome chocolate cake!
awesome fruit bowl- handcarved by martha...thanks martha for all your creativity

happy mother's day

a day devoted to the thing i love doing the most...being a mom! how awesome is that!
josh is quickly teaching elle the importance of spoiling mamma on this day. first with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers sent to school on friday...loved the smell and brightness all day. then on sunday they brought me pancakes in bed! elle loves to help cook up food in the kitchen, mixing it herself. she snuggled up with me in bed and ate pancakes and strawberries together with some sunday cartoons. we had a great time a church and then came home for a fun lunch with gram, gramps, and aunt sue. and as if flowers weren't enough josh said i could start looking for a new computer...woohoo!! so let the shopping begin

elle is such a joy to have in our life. she makes us smile all the time and each day she learns more and more. it's amazing to think she's ours and what a blessing it is to raise her and teach her about God's love- which she shows everyday. maybe we learn from her too!!

i'm excited for next mother's day to have 2 amazing kids to love!

spring break in gp...finally!!

after a 3 hour night trip across the state we finally made it to see some good ol' friends
the smiths: allie, dave, emily, peter & josh
the gants: jen, jason, emerson & ben
the o'donnells: cheri, pat, morgan & caroline

elle was a trooper although my plan of her sleeping the whole way didn't exactly turn out that way, she finally fell asleep 45 min. outside of detroit. we had a great time catching up with old friends and finally getting the chance for most of them to meet elle and for me to meet some of their new additions.

when we lived in gp over 4 years ago we were in a small group with these families and at the time between the 3 of us couples there were only 3 kids, now we're up to 8 between us all. crazy how time flies and how families grow.

elle quickly jumped in on the fun and emily, peter, and emerson were more than willing to help her out. we had some fun playing outside on what we like to call "the smith playground" as they have EVERYTHING. love that lady- allie, she's the best! and of course once the kids were in bed we chatted until we were falling asleep. it's fun to visit with friends when it doesn't matter the about of time that passes between seeing each other.

thanks ladies for an awesome trip! love you all

ben and elle enjoying their afternoon snack...so cute together, only 2 weeks between them.

elle loves to hang with the big girls

what a ham!

just chillin' together

elle LOVED the trampoline, once she got the hang of it and the other big kids were off so she could actually stand up. so cute to watch her bounce across and her proud little face. she is not afraid to try new things.

our attempt to get all the kids...morgan and caroline had already left. hard to get 8 kids at once in between naps and play.

fun with emily and auntie allie getting pulled around the house as i quickly tried to pack the car in the down pour. it rained all 3 hours across the state and of course elle fell asleep 40 min. from home. at least she was a good back seat driver, starring out the window and only making a peep every once in a while.

can't wait for the next trip...perhaps josh can come along next time.

it's official...

we're excited to announce that Elle is going to be
a BIG SISTER

baby #2 is due Oct.13, 2010

our savior lives...happy easter everyone

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...
1 Peter 1:3

I know that my redeemer lives
And now I stand on what He did
My Saviour, my Saviour lives
Every day a brand new chance to say
"Jesus, You are the only way"
My Saviour, my Saviour lives

we feel so blessed to celebrate this Easter season with our families

elle's first play dough experience...thank you grammie and grampie for the Easter basket

the vogel cousin egg hunt
elle quickly caught on and found tons of eggs.

Happy Easter!!

our little musician

elle's Easter basket

dying Easter eggs with Gram
Elle loved dunking the eggs in the colored water. She surprises more and more with what she knows and wants to do. She's growing up fast!