Starbucks anyone?

Joel and I are spending a couple of days in Seattle for the wedding of Joe Maly to Jane Wong.  (We left Gus with Gramma and Papa.  Don't even get me started on that, I will burst into tears.  I miss my little man so much right now.)  We decided to head to downtown Seattle today and check out Pike's Place.  This is the location of the famous fish market where the men throw the fish around.  Unfortunately, we did not see any fish fly through the air.  But we saw a lot of fun vendors with fresh baked goods, fruit, flowers, cheese....all sorts of things.  My big purchase today....Starbucks coffee!  (Fun fact- did you know that Starbucks owns the company Seattle's Best coffee??)

Yes, we are those tourists that ask strangers to take their picture.

The famous fish market...fish didn't move.

Look at that bouquet!!  And it only cost me $15!  LOVE it!  We brought it to Joe and Jane when we attended their BBQ today.

And while we are gone....Gus went to the Hudsonville Fair today.

Aunt Annie spoiled Gus with his first sno-cone. I'm surprised I don't see an elephant ear hanging out of his mouth. :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!  I love the the joy and excitement of the season.  I love that people take time to get together for holiday parties.  I love the festive decorations and the billions of lights scattered throughout the neighborhoods.

Growing up, my sister and I would count the number of houses that were decorated while in the car coming home from the different Christmas gatherings.  We had rules for this little tradition of ours.  We could only look out our own side of the car.  You had to count out loud so that we kept track along the way.  Any Christmas decoration counts.  If you could only see the lit Christmas tree inside the house...it would count.  I love this little tradition that she and I have and I cannot even tell you how it started.  To this day we still play when we are together.  I hope to do the same with my kids as a way to entertain ourselves on the way home.

Psst....

"Psst....I want to tell you something..."

This picture just makes us laugh out loud!  Gus must be trying to tell us something.

Goofing around with Aunt Annie. 

I left my parents for an hour and Aunt Annie kept Gus occupied and entertained him.  They both made sure to get in plenty of "tummy time".

"This lady is so silly..."

Gus is in awe of his Aunt Annie.  She is so silly that he barely ever takes his eyes off of her.

Me and two of my favorite guys in the whole world doing one of my favorite things in the world....hunting for the perfect Christmas tree for my parents house.  This was my 30th year on the tree hunt with my parents and I am beyond excited to pass this tradition on to my son.  This is one of the best parts of my year and I hope that he grows to love it as much as I do.

We let Daddy and Papa do the hard work of cutting down the tree and hauling it to the truck.  My sister and I love trying to find the fattest, roundest tree for my parents house.  We found a pretty good one.

It may not be for his house, but Gus took home his first Christmas tree!!  Our little family will get our tree for our house tomorrow, but I love that Gus' first Christmas tree hunt was with my family.  The tradition continues.  Now I can't wait for Gus to see the trees all lit up and decorated. 

I am so pumped for Christmas this year!!  All I wanted for Christmas the past couple of years was to be a mom...my wish finally came true!  I can't wait to celebrate my first Christmas as a mom!!

Just a few updates

The 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer

Gus was the youngest supporter at the 3 Day walk for Breast Cancer this year. He was so proud of his Aunt Sarah who did her 4th walk this year. I forgot to take a picture of the front of his shirt, but it had a pink ribbon on it and said "Tough guys wear pink". Gus' cousin Brendan wore a matching one. (But his said "Mom" on the back where Gus' said "Aunt Sarah".) It was a really hot day, so we only stayed for a little while. But we were glad that we were able to stay long enough to see Aunt Sarah and her friend, Cheryl. We also got to see Sherla, Gail, Kerry and Nan. We are so proud of all of them!!

Gus could be Mother Teresa for Halloween...

I put this picture on here just because it is funny. I love how cuddly Gus is after his bath. When he is wrapped in this towel he reminds us of Mother Teresa minus being a nun, an old lady, and all of the great works that she did. (I am sure that Gus will do great things for this world some day...so far he just made me a Momma and I think that is pretty great!) Just felt the need to share this picture of our cuddly little monkey after his bath. And yes, once we take the towel off the hair on the top of his head sticks straight up on end. LOVE IT!!

AUNT ANNIE!!

Speaking of things that we love....Aunt Annie has been visiting us a lot this summer!! Gus loves his Aunt Annie and we are pretty sure that the feeling is mutual. Annie has gotten really good changing Gus' diapers really fast so that she doesn't get peed on. She is pretty proud of this accomplishment. Aunt Annie comes back to our house tomorrow. She is going to go to cheerleading practice with us, help in my classroom, visit my friend Amy and go to the doctor for Gus with me. Gus has to get his 2 month shots. OUCH!! Not sure who is going to be bothered by it more. Sure, it will hurt Gus, but I may have to pick Annie up off the floor.

Aunt Annie

Last night was Joel's first night away from Gus. It made me a little nervous so I made my sister come stay with us. Since I was interning yesterday and Joel had to leave before I got home, Gus had Aunt Annie babysitting him for the first time!! And they both survived! :)

Today is my last day as an intern. Whew! I am so happy to be done with it. I can hardly stand it! I am so excited!! Then I get spend the rest of the summer before school just hanging out with Gus-Gus!