happy birthday girls!!!

From Collages

happy birthday matilyn & ellery
we're glad we could celebrate with you!
love,
aunt emily, uncle josh, ellington & tackle

diggin' my new wheels

i know....probably a little too young to start the bike training. then again maybe she'll be in triathlete. josh's parents brought over this little trike while i was at back to school night, she loves it! tackle...hmmmm, not sure what to think. it's so cute to watch josh push her around on the trike. she actually holds on the entire time and you have to pry her little fingers off the handles. she is growing up so fast. just last friday she started taking 1 or 2 crawls and then ducks and rolls onto her back. she is getting so close.

i'm into my 2nd week of school. my class is great, they are such sweethearts, it makes it easier to go each day. here's our first day of school pic.



i'd still rather be at home with my little girl, watching her do all the fun stuff that josh and the daycare lady get to see. she's changing so fast that i just want freeze time and enjoy her RIGHT NOW. my favorite time everyday is at bedtime when the 2 of us just snuggle up and she falls asleep in my arms. it's amazing how those 2o min. are refreshing. praying for her is such a joy. i can't wait to see the little girl and young woman she'll grow up to be.

elle is quite the daredevil. she loves to stand by herself and now tries to let go and walk to her toys or tackle. oh, boy! are we in for it.

football=fall

well, it's officially fall at our house....college football season has started!
however, this year there's a little bit different feelin' at the white house. as josh likes to say he's joined the "dark side" a.k.a. notre dame! this could possible be his mid-life crisis, only a few years too early. going from a die-hard michigan fan to now a notre dame alum he has been wrestling with the question, who does he cheer for? i know not exactly the mid-life crisis everyone else has, but come on now it's josh.

yep, you guessed it he turned in his maize and blue for gold!
and of course, the girls followed suite


yes, we're in the student section and boy did we feel old. at least we were in the graduate student section. we had a great time tailgating on the college's dime...who's kiddie, we totally paid for all the food with the tuition check we wrote early this year. it was fun to see where josh has been spending most of his time lately and meeting the other MBA students and their wives. for the first time in our life we're season ticket holders for college football...woohoo!!!

thanks grampie and grammie for watching elle while we enjoyed the game. elle is always spoiled by her grandparents, always a new toy or outfit. (thanks mom and dad)

my mom and dad stayed the weekend and joined us for our church's labor day picnic. wrapping up the summer and kicking off fall the right way!!

the big top...young life circus

elle took her first trip to the circus with gramps and gram white.
she loved watching the animals do crazy tricks and intently watched the acrobats fly through the air. what a fun way to end the summer.

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!!